Amazon, it seems, will be closing its forums this Friday, and is sending interested parties to Goodreads.
Across the indie-orientated publishing blogs the reaction is overwhelmingly one of dismay.
Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader said, “If Amazon does follow through and kill its forums, it will b a loss to the local community but not a huge surprise.
“The real question isn’t why Amazon would do that but why not. The forums were never closely integrated with Amazon’s site (I always had to Google for Amazon support forums in order to find them). Also, Amazon may have provided a space for its customers to congregate, but I can’t recall the last time I saw one of its customer service reps answer questions there.
“Since the forums serve no clear purpose, why would Amazon keep them open?
David Rothman at Teleread says it’s a “Big mistake, if true.”
At Good Ereader Michael Kozlowski, no friend of the self-publishing movement, said, “The Amazon Kindle forum was a big part of the early success of the Kindle and it is very sad to see this great community disappear.”
