PRESS QUESTIONS I JUST ANSWERED, POSTED IN CASE THERE IS ANYONE WHO CARES:
1.) What was the reaction like inside Amazon today? Did your sources give you any insight into the mood?
People were complaining inside that the best explanation PR could come up with is "a glitch", because that just sounds stupid, and leads to paranoid ravings. You pay the PR folks, you'd think they could say something a little more full-bodied than that.
2.) What year did you work at Amazon? What was your title?
I started in customer service and ended in business development--I was there from 1998-2001. Today I'm an author and monologuist who tours the country performing.
3.) Was the problem with a French programmer? Can you illuminate what you think happened?
Someone was editing the category systems inside of Amazon.fr, made an error, and that system is global, so it propagated everywhere. I have no insight as to anyone's nationality, or whether it was a language gap, or anything of that nature.
4.) Will any heads roll over this? What do you think based on working there?
I doubt anything will happen. While embarrassing to the public, it will fade quickly as the changes get reverted. Amazon is no longer the company it once was: it's just an online Wal-Mart. Like any behemoth, there's little accountability inside the bubble.
More interesting is that everyone in publishing entrusts their rankings and status to a single provider. That's the story no one likes thinking about in publishing.
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7:20 PM
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