Amazon.com At the Center of a Rankings Storm

A new Amazon.com policy through which the giant online retailer is trying to make its lists of top selling books more “family friendly” is apparently backfiring with a vengeance. A large variety of books have lost their sales rank because they are categorized as having a particular sexual content, even if they are classics, such as best sellers over time like the works of novelists E. M. Forster and Gore Vidal, and the non-fiction advice book The Joy of Sex. An Amazon.com spokesperson said the loss of rankings was caused by a “glitch” and was not aimed at gay and lesbian authors or content. She said the episode was an “embarrassing and ham-fisted error.” Angry customers have registered their displeasure with Amazon. Read more here in a Guardian article, here from the New York Times, and here in a CNN story.

Update: According to an AP story, the rankings are slowly coming back.