Remember how Amazon.com seemed marginally less provincial than some other big book vendors? Cherish those memories:
“Yes, it is true. Amazon admits they are indeed stripping the sales ranking indicators for what they deem to be ‘adult’ material. Of course they are being hypocritical because there is a multitude of ‘adult’ literature out there that is still being ranked – Harold Robbins, Jackie Collins, come on! They are using categories THEY set up (gay and lesbian) to now target these books as somehow offensive.”
This open letter to Amazon from Booksquare sums it up nicely.
Update: Christopher Butcher points to this comprehensive post at Jezebel.
Update: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s blog shares a statement from Amazon admitting to a “ham-fisted cataloging error.”