Difference between revisions of "Help:How to change a story in a collection"

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(→‎Changing Content Entries: Updated to reflect the fact that storylen is no longer editable; rewrote for readability)
 
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{{HelpHeader}}
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==Changing Content Entries==
 
==Changing Content Entries==
  
If you come upon a pub record in which the content entries do not match exactly what is in your verifiable copy of the same pub, you will want to update that record. Due to the ISFDB's database structure, any changes to a title record will impact how that title is displayed in '''ALL''' publications in which that story (or essay) is printed.
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If you come upon a Publication record in which the content entries do not match exactly what is in your verifiable copy of the same pub, you will want to update that record. The way the ISFDB works, any changes to a Title record (i.e. a story, essay, novel, interview, etc) will impact how that title is displayed in '''ALL''' publications in which that title is printed. Thus, if you have a UK edition of a collection where the title of Clifford D. Simak's story "Neighbor" is spelled "Neighbour", changing the spelling to "Neighbour" would change the way the story appears in all publications and corrupt our data. In order to prevent this from happening, the Edit Publication screen will not let you change titles that have appeared in multiple publications: such titles will be grayed out and not editable except for the page number field. If a Title has appeared in only ''one'' publication, e.g. a story that has never been reprinted, then you will be able to edit its fields directly.
  
Suppose someone wanted to update the publication ''[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?4130 Best Science Fiction Stories of Clifford D. Simak]'' and to change the title of the story ''[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?53623 Neighbor]'' into ''Neighbour''. If you look at the ''[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?53623 Neighbor]'' title record you will see that this story is included in ten different publications. If you change the title record to match your copy, you will impact how the story is displayed in all ten publications.  Obviously, you don't want to do that, since you probably don't have access to all ten publications and can't verifiably prove that the story appears as "Neighbour" in all instances.
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In cases when you want your Title changes to apply to all publications, e.g. if you want to change the date of a story, you can change it in the Edit Title screen.
  
Sometimes you may ''want'' to impact all ten records.  This is usually for data fields that are “about” the story, such as the date, story length, synopsis, notes, etc. In that case, just make the changes, submit them and a moderator will simply review and approve the submission.
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When making a content change in the Edit Publication screen that applies to the way the Title appears in that publication only, follow the "add-remove-merge" method described below.
 
 
However, when it comes to the title field itself, the changes should normally be more limited in scope. Ideally, an editor could go to a publication record and just change the spelling of ''Neighbor'' to ''Neighbour'' to match what is stated in the publication and ISFDB would then relink the publication to the title record for ''Neighbour''. Unfortunately, that’s not how ISFDB currently works and we must use the following method of changing a title record.  It may take several submissions before you are comfortable with this method, but it shouldn't be long before you're doing it without a second thought.
 
  
 
==The Method==
 
==The Method==
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## Look for the old version of the title, in this case “Neighbor, SHORTFICTION , Clifford D. Simak” and click the checkbox for that title record.
 
## Look for the old version of the title, in this case “Neighbor, SHORTFICTION , Clifford D. Simak” and click the checkbox for that title record.
 
## Click <nowiki>[Submit Data]</nowiki>.
 
## Click <nowiki>[Submit Data]</nowiki>.
# Wait for moderator approval of your publication update and remove-title submissions. Once both have been approved you will probably need to merge the newly created title record with any existing title record. If you're unfamiliar with merging go to [[Help: How to merge titles]].
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# Wait for moderator approval of your publication update and remove-title submissions. Once both have been approved, you will probably need to merge the newly created title record with any existing title record, or mark it as a variant title if the story was published with different titles or author credits in different publications. If you're unfamiliar with merging go to [[Help: How to merge titles]]. If you're unfamiliar with creating variant titles see [[Help:How to record a variant title]].
 
 
==An Exception to the Method==
 
  
There is an exception to this "add and remove" method. If a search reveals that this is the '''one and only''' printing of this title, you can edit the record from either its title record or from an edit of the one and only pub in which it appears.  For example, you see that this essay [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?913779 "Here Be There Dragons: The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and Other Mysteries of an Explored Planet"] was recorded without its subtitle.  Because there is only one record of its printing (in [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?ANLGOCT2008 Analog, October 2008]), you can either edit the [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?913779 title record], or edit its content entry in the [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?ANLGOCT2008 pub record].  But again, you must be '''absolutely certain''' that this is its only record of printing.
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[[Category:ISFDB_Help|{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]

Latest revision as of 10:21, 5 October 2009

This page is a help or manual page for the ISFDB database. It describes standards or methods for entering or maintaining data in the ISFDB database, or otherwise working with the database. Other help pages may be found via the category below. To discuss what should go on this page, use the talk page.

If, after exploring the Help system, you still have a question, please visit the Help desk and let us know. We probably know the answer, but we need your help to know what we left out of the help pages.

If you are new to editing the ISFDB, please see Help:Getting Started.

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Changing Content Entries

If you come upon a Publication record in which the content entries do not match exactly what is in your verifiable copy of the same pub, you will want to update that record. The way the ISFDB works, any changes to a Title record (i.e. a story, essay, novel, interview, etc) will impact how that title is displayed in ALL publications in which that title is printed. Thus, if you have a UK edition of a collection where the title of Clifford D. Simak's story "Neighbor" is spelled "Neighbour", changing the spelling to "Neighbour" would change the way the story appears in all publications and corrupt our data. In order to prevent this from happening, the Edit Publication screen will not let you change titles that have appeared in multiple publications: such titles will be grayed out and not editable except for the page number field. If a Title has appeared in only one publication, e.g. a story that has never been reprinted, then you will be able to edit its fields directly.

In cases when you want your Title changes to apply to all publications, e.g. if you want to change the date of a story, you can change it in the Edit Title screen.

When making a content change in the Edit Publication screen that applies to the way the Title appears in that publication only, follow the "add-remove-merge" method described below.

The Method

Here are the steps to change the title of a story that’s incorrectly listed in the contents of a publication:

  1. Go to the publication that you wish to edit and choose "Edit This Pub" from the Editing Tools menu.
    1. At the bottom of the Content section, you'll see the [Add Title] button. Clicking on it will create a set of fields to enter one new content entry.
    2. Enter the information for the new title, completing as many fields of which you're certain. In this case, you would enter: page 226, Neighbour, 1954-00-00, SHORTFICTION, novelette, Clifford D. Simak.
    3. Suggestion - If you are updating many titles it is helpful to set the page number for the old titles as "NA", "Remove", "Delete", "***", anything to distinguish the titles you wish to remove in the next step. This is optional and if you are comfortable that you can keep track of the old/new titles then you can just move on to the next step without waiting for moderator approval of the publication edit.
    4. Click [Submit Data]. Wait for moderator approval of the publication edit and/or proceed to the next step.
  2. Go back to the original publication record and click “Remove Titles From This Pub” in the Editing Tools menu.
    1. Look for the old version of the title, in this case “Neighbor, SHORTFICTION , Clifford D. Simak” and click the checkbox for that title record.
    2. Click [Submit Data].
  3. Wait for moderator approval of your publication update and remove-title submissions. Once both have been approved, you will probably need to merge the newly created title record with any existing title record, or mark it as a variant title if the story was published with different titles or author credits in different publications. If you're unfamiliar with merging go to Help: How to merge titles. If you're unfamiliar with creating variant titles see Help:How to record a variant title.