azurelunatic: Teddybear that contains ethernet switch. (teddyborg)
Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 ([personal profile] azurelunatic) wrote2009-04-13 12:38 pm
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[identity profile] armaina.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
http://community.livejournal.com/brutal_honesty/3168992.html
In case you haven't heard yet

All this commotion over a few lines of code. Just an exploited script is all.
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2009-04-13 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
I saw that, but I'm somewhat skeptical of his claims.

[identity profile] armaina.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
You're more inclined to believe that all of Amazon staff that has any control over this is all just a bunch of bigots rather than the fact that someone used a malicious script to report multiple books repeatedly which caused them to be taken down by an automatic system?

The fact that so many books were removed in such a short space of time and were so specifically targeted really seems to point to a script exploit with automatic action that may have been done with little to no review. The problem is within the system.
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2009-04-13 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm inclined to mistrust a known troll taking credit for a major dramastorm.

I'm sure that somewhere in there is an automatic system gone completely fucking nuts. I'm disinclined to believe without further proof that it was due to repeated reporting by a malicious script, or that it was that particular troll responsible.

[identity profile] marta.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Might want to add this one:

http://belmikey.livejournal.com/425631.html?thread=4245151#t4245151

As I said recently elsewhere, there's probably more background and nuance to this, but I've been in that situation and it's hugely frustrating.

Also, it's easy to call on a crowd and incite mass-uprising, but few people ever take quite as much effort to call them off or disseminate information when it's of an exculpatory nature.
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2009-04-13 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I've hit the "...what the *hell* just went down?!" phase.

[identity profile] marta.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 08:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Oops, here's another one, in the already-linked-to post:

http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.html?thread=334839#t334839

In order to stop assumptions, if I had time, I'd use the wayback machine to see how search results/rankings and sales rankings (and/or some sales ranking pages, maybe, like on, say Ellen's biography) changed in the past week. And I'd view page source, maybe using Firebug too, to see what kinds of invisible tags or directions were part of the code (just as a fishing expedition, not necessarily looking for A Particular Bug). Separating out this particular issue from pre-existing issues would help for greater understanding of the situation.

It may be that some of those books just weren't high on the search results anyway, unrelated to this one issue. It may be that the flagging and this particular technical glitch are unrelated as far as this particular incident goes.

Finding out exactly what is new, what was existing, and watching as some of the changes are reverted will probably shed light. It would be nicer if Amazon could sit down and explain it in a question and answer, but I'm now more likely to be patient waiting for that.

[identity profile] armaina.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
The thing is, they can't explain it now, because right now their PR is probably going nuts trying to find out how to properly address the issue publicly and also not give out company information. Plus other possible legal issues.

It kind of bothers me that people think that they can nag their friends working at Amazon for some answer. :| I'm certain the people either don't have access to that information, or don't want to loose their job trying to reply with office hearsay.

[identity profile] marta.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I think this is quite plausible.

After hearing from people on the inside at Amazon, I am convinced it was in fact, a "glitch."

Well, more like user error--some idiot editing code for one of the many international versions of Amazon mixed up the difference between "adult" and "erotic" and "sexuality". All the sites are tied together, so editing one affected all for blacklisting, and ta-da, you get the situation.

The CS rep who responded that this was Amazon policy was just confused about what they were talking about, and gave standard boilerplate about porn.

The dumbest part is saying it was a "glitch". A "glitch"? Just say that it was one of your workers making an editing error. Really dumb PR move, that one.

Never ascribe to malice and all that...
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