Rules and standards changelog
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This is a changelog of ISFDB data entry rules and standards. It summarizes the outcomes of discussions on the Rules and standards discussions page as well as functional data entry changes prompted by software patches. It began logging changes on 2016-11-13. There is no changelog for rule changes before that date.
Note that this changelog is limited to changes to data entry standards. For a list of software changes see Recent Patches.
Date of change | Short description | New rule | Old rule | Affected Policy and/or Help pages | Discussion which led to the rule change
(the link may not work for archived discussions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
After 2000 but not later than 2006 | Self-published books and vanity publishers included | Self-published books and vanity publishers are included | Self-published books and vanity publishers were excluded | ISFDB:Policy#Included | ISFDB_talk:Policy#Policy_page_updates |
Around 2006 | Print on demand (POD) publishers included | Print on demand (POD) publishers are included | Print on demand (POD) publishers were not covered by Policy | ISFDB:Policy#Included | ISFDB_talk:Policy#Policy_page_updates |
Mid-2006 | Audio books included | Audio books -- readings but not dramatizations -- were included and the software was updated | Audio were not included and not supported by the software | ISFDB:Policy#Included | ISFDB_talk:Policy#Policy_page_updates |
Mid-2006 | E-books with ISBNs included | E-books with ISBNs included [e-books without ISBNs remained excluded until 2011-03 - see below] | E-books generally excluded and not supported by the software | ISFDB:Policy#Included | ISFDB_talk:Policy#Policy_page_updates |
Early 2007 | Paper-based fanzines included | Paper-based fanzines are included [webzine remained excluded until 2018 - see below] | All fanzines excluded | ISFDB:Policy#Included | ISFDB_talk:Policy#Policy_page_updates |
2011-03-27 | Inclusion of e-books with unique identifiers | E-books with a unique identifier such as an ISBN, ASIN, EAN, or catalog number are included | E-books without an ISBN excluded | ISFDB:Policy#Included | Eliminate the requirement that ebooks have an ISBN? |
2011-10-15 | Exclusion of dissertations | Excluded as per Community Portal consensus | Inclusion/exclusion status not defined | ISFDB:Policy#Excluded | Community_Portal: Dissertations |
2016-06-01 | Data entry rules for "Russian Empire", "Russia" and "USSR" | "Russia" before 1721-11-02, between 1917-09-14 and 1922-12-29, and after 1991-12-26; "Russian Empire" between 1721-11-02 and 1917-09-13; "Russia, USSR" between 1922-12-30 and 1991-12-25 | Not specified | Template:AuthorFields:BirthPlace | Community_Portal: Names of the country "Russia" |
2016-11-13 | Date of variant titles | Date must be the first occurrence of the variant title | Date to use was the first occurrence of the work | Template:TitleFields:Date | Improve "How to enter foreign language editions" page regarding the publication date of translations |
2016-11-27 | Eliminated 'sf' Story Length | 'sf' is no longer entered in the Story Length field | 'sf' was supposed to be entered in the Story Length field for short fiction titles of unknown length | Template:TitleFields:Length | Eliminating "sf"/"shortfiction" during editing and 2016-11-27 downtime |
2016-11-27 | Omnibus story length separators | Plus signs are to be used as omnibus story length separators | Slashed were to be used as omnibus story length separators | Template:TitleFields:Length | Composite "story length" values for OMNIBUSes |
2017-01-16 | Story length field split into 4 | Omnibus length values as well as juvenile and novelization indicators have been moved from the "story length" field to separate fields. A leading slash is no longer required for omnibus length values. | The story length field was used to store all 4 types of information. Leading slashes were to be used for omnibus length values. | Template:TitleFields:Length, Template:TitleFields:Content, Template:TitleFields:Juvenile, Template:PublicationFields:Juvenile, Template:TitleFields:Novelization, Template:PublicationFields:Novelization | 2017-01-16 downtime - 6:30pm |
2017-03-12 | Suffix handling in author LegalName field | Suffixes that are part of the author's legal name are recorded; format Lastname, Firstname Middlenames, Suffix | No suffixes were to be recorded | Template:AuthorFields:LegalName | Handling of suffixes on author names |
2017-03-15 | Redaction of detailed biographical data of living authors | Detailed biographical data of living authors can be deleted upon author request | Policy was not spelled out | ISFDB:Policy#Data_Deletion_Policy | Data deletion policy -- proposed language |
2017-10-02 | Psychic abilities | Explicitly state genre includes fictional psychic abilities | Not specifically in inclusion criteria | ISFDB:Policy | Psychic abilities: In or Out? |
2017-12-22 | Boxed sets | Boxed sets with additional data elements are included | Boxed sets were excluded | Template:PublicationFields:PubType | Boxed Sets |
2017-12-25 | Non-genre speculative fiction | Removed reference to "non-genre speculative fiction" as confusing. No real change in policy itself. | "non-genre speculative fiction" was listed in inclusion criteria. | ISFDB:Policy | "Non-genre speculative fiction" in ISFDB:Policy |
2018-01-17 | Special genre issues of non-genre magazines | For special genre issues of non-genre magazines, non-fiction may be entered as well | Non-fiction from non-genre magazines never entered | Help:Entering non-genre magazines | Special Genre Issues of Non-Genre Issues |
2018-07-05 | Webzines and one-time online anthologies included | Webzines published as distinct issues and one-time online anthologies are now included | Webzines and one-time online anthologies were not included except when allowed by other inclusion criteria | ISFDB:Policy | Inclusion of webzines and one-time anthologies |
2018-07-26 | Location of biographical data | Biographies are now entered in author records using Note fields | Biographies were entered in the ISFDB Wiki using "Bio" pages | ISFDB:Policy#Biography Policy, Help:Contents/Purpose#Biographies, ISFDB:FAQ#Can I enter author biographies in the ISFDB? | No recent discussion; Author records were updated to support a Note field a few years ago; the cleanup project to start moving biographies from Bio pages to author records was initiated shortly thereafter |
2018-07-31 | Inclusion of unpublished material | Unpublished books are now included if they have been announced (but never published), have been published in translation or are supposed to be published within the next 90 days | Unpublished books were listed as "Debatable" in the Rules of Acquisition | ISFDB:Policy#Rules_of_Acquisition | Rules of Acquisition -- unpublished books |
2018-08-18 | Author's canonical name | The canonical name is the most recognized name for that author within the genre | The canonical name is the most recognized name for that author | Help:Glossary | Canonical name for an author with lots of non-genre and a few genre works only |
2018-10-01 | Inclusion of newspapers | SF published in newspapers is included | SF published in newspapers is included was "debatable" | ISFDB:Policy#Rules_of_Acquisition | Newspapers |
2018-11-11 | Use of the SERIAL title type in webzines | The use of the SERIAL title type is the same for webzines as for other types of periodicals | Webzines did not use the SERIAL title type | Help:Use of the SERIAL type | SERIALs in webzines |
2018-11-29 | Use of the SERIAL title type in chapbooks | The SERIAL title type is to be used when a work is serialized across multiple chapbooks | The SERIAL title type was used for chapbook serializations, but it was not officially documented | Template:TitleFields:TitleType | SERIAL titles in CHAPBOOK publications |
2019-04-26 | Use of cropping when entering URLs of Amazon-hosted cover scans | The use of "CR" for cropped images is supported | The use of "CR" for cropped images was not supported | Template:Image Host Sites | Cropping Amazon images |
2020-01-12 | Moderator Note is sometimes required | Moderator Note is now required when editing publications which have been primarily-verified by other users; enforced by policy and by the software | Moderator Note was never required | Template:ModNote | Clarify how to deal with unverified data added after primary verification |
2020-01-12 | Entering unverified data after primary verification | When updating a primary verified publication with data from a secondary source, the editor must specify what information is from that secondary source in the "Pub Note" field | Entering unverified data after primary verification was not explicitly regulated | Help:How to update a publication | Clarify how to deal with unverified data added after primary verification |
2020-04-18 | Length values of VTs | For variant titles, including translations, use the length value of the parent title | Not explicitly stated | Template:TitleFields:Length | How to deal with parent/variant titles of different length |
2020-05-05 | How to separate sets of page numbers in the page count field | Use pluses for multiple sets in all pubs with multiple sets of page numbers | Use pluses for two sets in a dos-a-dos publication | Template:PublicationFields:Pages | Multi-Volume Page Counts |
2020-05-05 | How to enter the page count for multi-volume publications | Use commas to separate the page counts for each volume | Not specified | Template:PublicationFields:Pages | Multi-Volume Page Counts |
2020-05-06 | Inclusion of non-fiction works about speculative fiction | Only non-fiction works about speculative fiction which can be plausibly linked to published SF are included | Unspecified "Works about speculative fiction" are included | ISFDB:Policy#Included | Eligibility of NONFICTION about non-written SF |
2020-05-09 | CHAPBOOK publications with more than 1 fiction title | CHAPBOOK publications can include up to 1 bonus fiction title (only if the publication's title page lists only the main title and the main title's author(s)) and supporting/incidental fiction titles | CHAPBOOK publications can include only 1 fiction title | Template:PublicationFields:PubType | More precise definition of CHAPBOOK publications |
2020-05-16 | Inclusion of individual letters to the editor | Entries may be restricted to significant letters by well-known speculative fiction personalities. Editors have the option to include other letters. | Template:PubContents:Letters said that only "significant letters by well-known speculative fiction personalities" were included while Template:PublicationInfo:WhatToInclude let editors include other letters. The former wasn't updated when the rules were relaxed in 2014. | Template:PublicationInfo:WhatToInclude and Template:PubContents:Letters | Letters -- cleaning up the data entry rules |
2020-09-17 | Synopsis data from secondary sources | Synopsis data from secondary sources should be used verbatim with omissions and substitutions cleared shown | Rules governing the use of synopsis data derived from secondary sources were left ambiguous | Template:TitleFields:Synopsis | Clarifying Synopsis Help |
2021-04-08 | "Editors of PERIODICAL NAME" is now optional for non-genre periodicals | Credited editor name(s) are used for non-genre periodicals. "Editors of PERIODICAL NAME" may be used instead of some or all editor names if they are unknown or unclear or not of genre interest | "Editors of PERIODICAL NAME" was required; actual editor name(s) could be optionally entered as co-editors | Help:Entering non-genre periodicals | Non-genre magazines and editor names |
2022-06-28 | HTML disallowed outside of Notes/Synopsis fields | All HTML is now disallowed outside of Notes/Synopsis fields | Only fonts-related HTML was explicitly disallowed outside of Notes/Synopsis fields | Template:TitleFields:Title and Template:PublicationFields:Title | Strikethrough, superscript and other HTML outside of Notes |
2022-06-28 | How to designate the page number of art on the reverse side of the dust jacket | Use rj to designate the page number of art on the reverse side of the dust jacket | none | Template:PubContentFields:Page | Art on interior of dust jackets |
2022-09-27 | Date of Birth rule changed to use "Municipality" instead of "City" | Municipality | City | Template:AuthorFields:BirthPlace | Place of birth: Use of subdivisions for large cities |
2022-10-11 | Clarified Tokyo subdivisions | Explained subdivisions of Tokyo | Tokyo | Template:AuthorFields:BirthPlace | Place of birth: Use of subdivisions for large cities |
2022-10-22 | Expanded Rules of Acquisition to include all types of webzines | Include all webzines | Include only "speculative fiction webzines" and "special speculative fiction issues of non-genre webzines" | ISFDB:Policy#Included | Webzines_inclusion:_Proposed_extension_of_ROA |
2022-11-23 | Rules for entering artists and cover URLs for non-genre periodicals | Allowed entering artists and cover URLs for non-genre periodicals | Only cover art that illustrated the SF content or was by a well known SF artist was allowed | Help:Entering non-genre periodicals | The non-genre covers (Again) |
2023-05-04 | Defined what "Published" means for Policy purposes | Allowed inclusion of Patreon/Kickstarter edition as well as "ARCs" explicitly produced for sale | Patreon editions were not considered publications; the status of ARCs produced for sale was undefined | ISFDB:Policy#Definitions | Started in Proposed Policy language (Defining "Published"), finalized in Defining "Published" - Take Two |