Comments on: Amazon Using Category MetaData to Filter Rankings

By: Amazonfail: Day Two « afterthree.net :: rachelle saunders

Amazonfail: Day Two « afterthree.net :: rachelle saunders — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:53:41 +0000

[...] Dear Author looked at the metadata of each book and discovered the probable data links are exactly w…: I looked up over 40 books that had been deranked and filtered out of search engines. It appears that all the content that was filtered out had either “gay”, ”lesbian”, ”transgender”, “erotic” or “sex” metadata categories. Playboy Centerfold books were categorized as “nude” and “erotic photography”, both categories that apparently weren’t included in the filter. According to one source, the category metadata is filled in part by the publisher and in part by Amazon. [...]

By: Some Thoughts On Amazonfail & Some Finalish Stats « afterthree.net :: rachelle saunders

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:52:12 +0000

[...] Was it a glitch? I think that’s mostly spin. (And so does most of the rest of the internet.) At the very least I think this was probably and badly thought out attempt to "protect the children" without fully understanding their own complicated and increasingly irregular tagging and category structure. As an e-commerce professional specializing in usability, I can say in my professional opinion that it’s a good thing most (if not all) people use Amazon’s search tools to find what they’re looking for, because their catalogue hierarchy is nightmarishly inconsistent, with different editions of the same book having different tags (some examples of which have been highlighted in this excellent post on Amazon’s meta data). [...]

By: Christian A. Young’s Dimlight Archive |

Christian A. Young’s Dimlight Archive | — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:08:03 +0000

[...] Dear Author… talks about whether Amazon is using MetaData to filter [...]

By: #Amazonfail | Ramblings

#Amazonfail | Ramblings — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:03:34 +0000

[...] Dear Author analysis [...]

By: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch

Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:50:42 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: #amazonfail « I Feel Beautiful

#amazonfail « I Feel Beautiful — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:20:16 +0000

[...] actually happened, instead of forming opinions based solely on speculation. I was dismayed at the results, but didn’t hate Amazon, and was open to explanations that exonerated them [...]

By: The Far Edge » Blog Archive » Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch

The Far Edge » Blog Archive » Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:53:25 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazon’s da…. [...]

By: #amazonfail FTW! » the billblog

#amazonfail FTW! » the billblog — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:23:38 +0000

[...] post: : Amazonfail on twitter search: Dear Author analysis: Girl with a One Track Mind: One claim of responsibility: And a rebuttal: No related posts [...]

By: Stephan

Stephan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:46:50 +0000

Amazons ‘explanation’ if anything has me more worried than the actual ‘glitch’ in many ways. If the book data is held in one place but used by all Amazon sites, then they can, by way of a ‘glitch’ censor the reading material and accessability of every Amazon customer worldwide to match the US centric ethos, laws and rulings.

By: infoyourway.com » Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch

infoyourway.com » Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:43:47 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch | Spin Valley Post

Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch | Spin Valley Post — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:31:02 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch

Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:19:07 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: Speakeasy » Blog Archive » #amazonfail overview

Speakeasy » Blog Archive » #amazonfail overview — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:14:02 +0000

[...] Amazon stripped the sales rankings from over 57,000 books within specified "adult" metadata categories, effectively making the books invisible unless searched for by exact title. Problem was, the [...]

By: Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch | Techcom for dummy

Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch | Techcom for dummy — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:12:11 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch | Spin Valley Post

Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch | Spin Valley Post — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:30:46 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: infoyourway.com » Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch

infoyourway.com » Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:20:30 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: Trade Jim News » Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch

Trade Jim News » Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:54:43 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: Guest Post: Why Amazon Didn’t Just Have a Glitch | American News World - News And Technology

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:52:33 +0000

[...] Also, see Dear Author’s excellent documenting of Amazon’s classification of books, placed in Amazo…. [...]

By: amazonfail « local nudist

amazonfail « local nudist — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:18:42 +0000

[...] or the result of “an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error.” What appears to have happened is that books categorized with the terms gay, lesbian, etc. lost their sales rank data, and would [...]

By: Amazon Fails to Understand Convergence « Digital Observations

Amazon Fails to Understand Convergence « Digital Observations — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:18:41 +0000

[...] Dear Author A blog about genre fiction which explores how this “glitch” happened to some books and not others by reviewing the metadata: “Thus, as a “glitch” it was a remarkably targeted one that seems to support the emails that Mark Probst and Craig Seymour received from Amazon which was gay and lesbian works were deemed “adult” content regardless of actual content.” [...]