Well, 3 days, 4 excuses. If there was ever a proper example of how NOT to let the public know that you've screwed up, Amazon is that example. From the Ashlyn D reply, stating that it was Amazon policy to not display "adult" titles, to the amazing vanishing "glitch", to hackers, to human error. Yes folks, Amazon has now run the complete list for their attempted censorship and with yesterdays pronouncement that it was basically, "One of our coworkers fat fingered an entry through our tool," Amazon has again placed the blame squarely on their own shoulders. Unfortunately for them the crushing weight of their ludicrous attempts at spin will not be soon forgotten.
So, a quick recap of the weekends events.
Author notices that titles are not being ranked by Amazon. Contacts Amazon and is told that it is company policy to not display rankings for "adult material". Author Twitters/blogs. Internet rises up and media becomes involved.
Amazon back peddles away from "policy" statement and claims that a "glitch" in the system is causing the "adult material" to be de-listed. Bloggers point out that this is the same excuse Amazon gave for the sudden deletion of a vast number of negative reviews for "Spore" last year. Basically, no one buys it.
Surprise, a "hacker" claims credit for the Amazon problem because he wanted to start "moral outrage". Within a few hours, hacker story is a dead story as the Internet rises up again to point out that the "hacker" in question is a well known troll who lies for the fun of it all. Computer experts also point out that the "hackers" code is childish and probably useless.
Finally, the latest. Someone at Amazon was updating the system and keyed in the wrong information. This caused a cascade kind of effect and over 50,000 titles were affected. Believable? Sure. In my 20+ years of IT support and engineering I've fat fingered my fair share of commands and parameters. However, unlike Amazon, I admit it, up front, when it happens.
So kiddies, what have we learned from all of this?
Well, for starters Amazon should have kept their corporate traps shut right from the start. A statement to the press of, "We have been alerted to an issue with our ranking system and are investigating at this time," probably would have saved them a great deal of embarrassment. Second, don't use the "technical glitch" ploy unless you can back it up with code.
Third, keep your lies straight. The whole "glitch" noise was shot down hard when it was learned that the first reports of this issue date back to February of 2009. That's a long time to know about a glitch and not fix it. Further, the earlier reports of GLBT themes being de-listed does cast a great deal of doubt on the latest excuse of human error. Again, if that error was keyed in 2 months ago, why is it that it was only an issue over the Easter weekend, when the press got hold of it and hauled you onto the carpet about it?
Lastly, if you have an unpopular policy in place, which I firmly believe is the case here, remove it, apologize for it and do something nice for the people affected by it. I don't know, a month of free service or something. Just to show that you have learned the error of your ways.
The fact is, this whole mess with Amazon is a microcosm of business in America. You'd have thought that after the last election, corporate America would have gotten the hint and changed their practices. Well, apparently some folks are slower learners. Because of the very long retention of information on the Internet and the fact that the consumer is no longer taking things at face value, you CEO's and company execs had better wake up. People are tired of getting burned in the name of your bottom line. You'd best get the hint:
If you lie, you will get caught. Long term memory has gone digital and we can learn about your past quickly.
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