Can I ask a stupid question?

[[deleted user]]

I read today that Amazon is now yanking self-published titles from their shelves, too, and I did a bit of google-ing to get more info. From what I've read (admittedly, it was a lazy, skimming kind of search) the offending titles are mainly erotica.

I know erotica is not for everyone, and that in particular it is the stories with rape/incest, or those labeled "outright porn" deemed most inappropriate but...since when is porn not allowed? I mean, Amazon will sell you a subscription to Penthouse or Playboy or whatever and uh, I know what's in there. How is that any worse than erotica? Am I missing something here?

I'm truly not trying to provoke an argument. I'd simply appreciate an explanation.

[Brenda]

I gather that the controversy was originally kicked off not by porn but really outrageously abusive stuff: incest, child sexual abuse, and so on. A cry went up, do we want our kids finding this stuff on bookselling sites? So the sellers panicked and pulled everything. In the usual way of it, a couple bad apples spoil the barrel for everybody.

[Fletcher]

Unfortunately the decisions on such things come down to individual definitions of what's obscene. As Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart once said, obscenity is difficult to define, but I'll know it when I see it. The problem is that the defining of what is and is not acceptable all too often is done by those on the more sensitive end of the scale.

I suspect that once the controversy dies down, the self-published erotica will slowly creep back onto the bookseller lists.

[Elaine]

Elle wrote: "I read today that Amazon is now yanking self-published titles from their shelves, too, and I did a bit of google-ing to get more info. From what I've read (admittedly, it was a lazy, skimming kind ..."

What started it all was someone searching the word 'Daddy' looking for a children's book about parents, and a lot of hard core porn/offensive stuff came up on the search. They were helping their kid use the internet, so their kid was subjected to those book covers too.

It's more about Amazon/Kobo etc not having an adult filter. Sites like Smashwords, do have an adult filter, which removes even intense romances from the search so that kids and adults can find appropriate books with the appropriate words. The problem is that even innocent search words, and innocent covers can end up being these hard core, offensive publications.

It's really a matter of the self-publishing authors not conforming to the rules of the sites they're posting on. They're not advertising their work appropriately, so it's appearing in the wrong categories etc, and since the site can't check every uploaded self-published work for offensive terms/words etc, they trust the author to stick to the rules. A few people aren't doing this and it's affecting the whole Indie Author industry.

Some people are getting removed even without being erotica/hard core. Some romances are being removed until they've been checked by the site, which means a lot of people are suffering for the few that don't seem to care about others.

[[deleted user]]

Elaine wrote: "Elle wrote: "I read today that Amazon is now yanking self-published titles from their shelves, too, and I did a bit of google-ing to get more info. From what I've read (admittedly, it was a lazy, s..."

This isn't the point, I know, but it seems like that would be easy to accomplish: checking every uploaded self-published work for certain terms. I mean--KDP runs a spell check. The tools necessary to "find" within a document are fairly basic...

But, yeah, not the point. It's always just a few who ruin things for the majority. Thanks for your answers, everyone!

[Raymond]

Lol - searching for "daddy" on the web brings up porn - I remember back in 1999 when the web was still "new" my girlfriend wanted to buy some of those Healy sneakers for her son. I suggested she check Dicks (sporting goods). Of course I left off the sporting goods and she just searched D.com...a few seconds later she calls out, "umm I don't think they sell shoes on this website"

[[deleted user]]

Raymond wrote: "Lol - searching for "daddy" on the web brings up porn - I remember back in 1999 when the web was still "new" my girlfriend wanted to buy some of those Healy sneakers for her son. I suggested she ch..."

LOL
My first experience with inappropriate search results came from an attempt to name the author of the poem, "Little Boy Blue."
Seems innocuous enough, right? Uh--no. Bad, bad stuff I found. Ended up calling my father for the poet, rather than taking another chance with Yahoo!

[Raymond]

Okay admittedly I'm tempted to make that search just to see lol

[[deleted user]]

Raymond wrote: "Okay admittedly I'm tempted to make that search just to see lol"

I just did. Couldn't help myself. Google is safe. Ten years ago, though, Yahoo! was a mistake.