#Amazonfail Sets Blogosphere A-Twitter

At this point, it just doesn’t seem possible that anyone hasn’t heard of the angry storm released by online bookseller Amazon this past weekend when rankings began mysteriously dropping from books with gay and lesbian themes.

We’d held off reporting on it because, for a while there on Sunday and Monday, the story kept changing from minute to minute and it struck us that half-baked reportage would do little beyond adding to the infamy of a few characters who emerged from the melee who seemed to have little else in mind. Even loading Amazon with additional attention seemed counterproductive under the circumstances. (Insert subliminal message here: buy indie!)

Even as I write this, very early Tuesday morning, I find myself reluctant to pronounce on this one, though it’s possible it’s just because I’m personally sick of hearing about it: somehow, there’s just a sort of nasty, tawdry feel about the whole thing. Seriously: are we even still playing these morality games? For some ridiculous reason, I’d thought more of Amazon. I know: I should have known better. (Buy indie!)

If you’re not sick of the whole sad mess, or if you’d like to explore the details on your own, Booktrade.info did a nice job of rounding up the significant players in the reportage thus far, while The Wall Street Journal here explains how the whole #Amazonfail thing came to be and offers a very concise blow-by-blow of the whole messy business.