Flewellyn ([info]flewellyn) wrote,
@ 2009-04-13 08:29:00
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Entry tags:politics, sheer diabolical evil, topical

Reaping what they have sown.
As many of you already know, Amazon.com has decided to "show consideration" for their "entire customer base" by delisting the sales rankings of GLBT-friendly books. They have not seen fit to do the same with anti-GLBT books, however, and as a result, Searching for "homosexuality" links to a series of homophobic books by right-wing fundamentalists.

In light of this, I sent this letter to Amazon.com moments ago:

I wish my account closed, effective immediately, in protest of your policies against GLBT content. I object in the strongest possible terms to this discriminatory behavior, and refuse to do any further business with you until such time as you cease such promotion of bigotry.

Sincerely,
[my name]

I would encourage all of you who read me, and have not already done so, to do the same.


(24 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]onceupon
2009-04-13 01:40 pm UTC (link)
I think Amazon got trolled, frankly.

I'm interested to see how they respond as the week progresses.

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[info]cacahuate
2009-04-13 01:56 pm UTC (link)
I'm as offended by this as the next decent person, but I don't really see the point of closing my account immediately when, what with all the outrage, they might reverse all this fairly soon, at which point I'd have to start a new account and would have lost my order history, personal ratings, many preprogrammed addresses, and a couple hundred bucks in gift certificates.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]erica057
2009-04-13 02:19 pm UTC (link)
You can still email them and tell them that you are unhappy with their new policy and you will be boycotting until they reverse it. I don't think it's necessary to delete your account if you're absolutely opposed to it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]cacahuate
2009-04-13 02:26 pm UTC (link)
I have done, although I'll still be using my existing gift certificate money. (Since they've already been paid for it, not doing so would just be letting them get away with accepting payment without having to give me goods in exchange.)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]erica057
2009-04-13 06:11 pm UTC (link)
I agree with that. Suggestions for spending your GCs ;)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]flewellyn
2009-04-13 02:20 pm UTC (link)
If they fix it, Amazon can tell me so and not close my account.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]cacahuate
2009-04-13 02:22 pm UTC (link)
They very well might not, considering that you didn't say that your instruction to close your account was conditional.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]flewellyn
2009-04-13 02:23 pm UTC (link)
Even if they do, I can have them reinstate it later.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]cacahuate
2009-04-13 02:26 pm UTC (link)
Very possibly not:
Once your account is closed, it is no longer accessible by you or anyone else. Please note that if you have an Associates account, About You area, or Wish List, you will no longer have access to your account for these purposes either.

If you ever wanted to order from us again or take advantage of any other features of our store that require a password, you would need to start a new account.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]minkrose
2009-04-13 02:52 pm UTC (link)
This is actually strike two on their part, to me. I started boycotting them back in June 2008 when this bullshit happened.

I still have an account because I wanted to keep my wishlist around but I'm seriously considering closing it. My only reason to keep it is that I love Endless.com.

I haven't actually missed them AT ALL in the year I've ALREADY not been buying from them. They clearly want to throw around their weight in ways that I don't agree with. I've been perfectly happy with B&N and have made more of an effort to buy through my local bookstores. I figure the local stores really need my business right now and Amazon clearly doesn't care for it.

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[info]flewellyn
2009-04-13 03:14 pm UTC (link)
Well said.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]idemandjustice
2009-04-13 03:24 pm UTC (link)
I'm going to contact them and remind them how long I've been a customer, and remind them that I've forgiven them for abuse against me personally in the past, but that this won't fly, and until they fix it, I'll be making all of my purchases elsewhere.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]erica057
2009-04-13 02:18 pm UTC (link)
Yep, I emailed them pretty much the same thing.

What a dumb move. Who buys more books from Amazon, fundies or web-savvy liberal types??

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]lucretiasheart
2009-04-13 06:05 pm UTC (link)
No kidding! That should be obvious!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]nimbrethil
2009-04-13 02:45 pm UTC (link)
I'm more and more convinced that this was a a mistake. An epic mistake, but a mistake all the same. I think that we all were a little too abrupt in rushing toward Amazon with torches and pitchforks.

(Reply to this)


[info]triplemare
2009-04-13 03:44 pm UTC (link)
Sent an email last night.
Had conciliatory "but we fixed it" whine-gram in mail this morning.
Double checked to see if they had.
Nope.
Fail.
I totaled up what I spent with them over the past year (alone) -- keeping in mind that I buy lots and lots and lots of books and gifts and and and...Then I sent them a note with that amount listed and saidk "no mo' for you, you lying lying people you"
Overall, my withholding those dollar contribs are not going to make or break them. But if I am just a sample...
Glee!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]nimbrethil
2009-04-14 10:28 pm UTC (link)
Unfortunately, I somehow doubt this is going to greatly affect Amazon's bottom line. No more than Wal*Mart's has been affected by their own sins, which are legion and which a lot of people routinely claim to boycott but usually don't.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]foma44
2009-04-13 05:15 pm UTC (link)
ew.

amazon. is kinda the devil of the bookselling world for a few reasons now...

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[info]lucretiasheart
2009-04-13 06:03 pm UTC (link)
Excellent idea.

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[info]hypatiasghost
2009-04-13 06:04 pm UTC (link)
I'm waiting for more information. I think it's suspicious that a company whose search engine brings up vaginal speculums when you search for girl scout cookies suddenly delisted GLBT books. Something strange is afoot, and Amazon may not be entirely to blame.

That's not to say I won't be closing my account in protest. But I will be waiting until we actually understand what happened.

(Reply to this)


[info]typsie
2009-04-13 06:31 pm UTC (link)
You might want to see this: http://community.livejournal.com/brutal_honesty/3168992.html

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]flewellyn
2009-04-13 06:36 pm UTC (link)
BZZT! Wrong, but thanks for playing!

http://bryant.livejournal.com/672165.html

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]typsie
2009-04-13 06:37 pm UTC (link)
Not sure I believe that guy any more than Weev. Not sure what to believe, but I really don't think this was Amazon's doing.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]xuincherguixe
2009-04-15 04:07 pm UTC (link)
Well, a recent search seems to get hits on gay sex, general living, and hate against them. So I'm going to guess that either it was technical issues, or the backlash was so great that they're pretending it was technical issues.

(Reply to this)

(24 comments) - (Post a new comment)

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