ISFDB:Moderator noticeboard/Archive 22

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Expanded archive listing

Sorry multiple pages in discussion

i created multiples of same query -- could you please remove the additonals? Thnaks —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Akua (talk • contribs) . on 23:10, 4 July 2017 (EDT)

Done and no worries.

PS: If you want to sign your messages, you can just add ~~~~ (that is 4 times the symbol ~ at the end of your messages. Welcome again :) Annie 23:33, 4 July 2017 (EDT)

Extending of input mask

Hello, can we (you) extend the input mask by several fields? E. g. "Translator", "Printing", "Edition", "Weight", "Dimensions". These data can I read often in the notes, but this is confusing. This would be better and more structured. Thanks. --Wolfram.winkler 03:46, 12 July 2017 (EDT)

There are plans to add more fields staring with catalog IDs and improved ISBN/price support. However, it's an involved process and will take time to implement. Ahasuerus 11:46, 12 July 2017 (EDT)

Hello Ahasuerus, please hurry up. --Wolfram.winkler 05:22, 13 July 2017 (EDT)

Alas, there are many competing priorities. I have installed 284 patches this year, but there are only so many hours in a day... Ahasuerus 09:26, 13 July 2017 (EDT)

Please do NOT hurry up. I would much rather see careful, accurate progress. Chavey 05:54, 16 July 2017 (EDT)

I agree with Chavey: Please choose accuracy over speed. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 00:03, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

ISBN-ASIN reconciliation: Part 1

Now that:

• our software supports third party ISBNs, and
• the vast majority of ASINs has been migrated to the new field

we can start reconciling ISBNs and ASINs.

As most of you probably know, Amazon typically doesn't display ISBNs for e-pubs. However, they are available via Amazon's back end API which Fixer has access to.

Fixer has identified 578 publications which:

• have an ASIN external ID
• do not have an ISBN in the publication record
• have a matching ISBN in Fixer's database

I have tweaked Fixer's software to create 578 submissions to assign ISBNs to our ISBN-less pubs. You can see the first one here. It's currently on hold pending moderator feedback. If everything looks OK (including Note to Moderator), I will proceed with creating the other 577 submissions, probably in batches of 50 or so. Ahasuerus 20:20, 19 July 2017 (EDT)

When adding an ISBN to a pub, does the duplicate ISBN warning logic occur? -- JLaTondre (talk) 20:53, 19 July 2017 (EDT)

Yes, the submission display software will perform the normal checks, including the check for duplicate ISBNs. Ahasuerus 21:10, 19 July 2017 (EDT)

If so, the "Once approved, please check for possible duplicate publications" could be changed to state need to investigate if the warning is present. -- JLaTondre (talk) 20:53, 19 July 2017 (EDT)

Upon reflection, I should probably check for pre-existing duplicate ISBNs at submission creation time. It won't be completely bulletproof since Fixer's database is at least a few hours behind the main database, but it will make the approval process more straightforward. Also, I guess it's possible to have multiple ISBN-less publication records for the same e-book (from Amazon, B&N, etc.) It may be better to keep the moderator note sufficiently vague to account for various permutations. Ahasuerus 21:15, 19 July 2017 (EDT)

Should a pub note be added stating the ISBN source is per Amazon? In this example, the data is per Barnes & Noble. However, searching that ISBN on their site returns no results. -- JLaTondre (talk) 20:53, 19 July 2017 (EDT)

That's a good point, but I am not sure how much I can do at submission creation time. It's easy enough to create a submission to add a missing field value to a pub record. However, editing an existing field (in this case the Note field) is tricky because the value may have changed since Fixer's database was created. If that happens, it may overwrite previously entered data. Ahasuerus 21:19, 19 July 2017 (EDT)

I don't mind having to edit the note. The cases where that will be "necessary" (term used loosely) I'd think would be few. I wonder how many are not Amazon-sourced Fixer submissions in the first place, with an Amazon credit already in the notes. Maybe you could search the notes string Fixer has for Amazon and word the note to the moderator differently? --MartyD 21:25, 20 July 2017 (EDT)

An excellent idea! Ahasuerus 22:56, 20 July 2017 (EDT)

A new version of the same submission has been created for your viewing pleasure. The old one has been rejected. Ahasuerus 18:50, 23 July 2017 (EDT)

I like it. Annie 16:43, 24 July 2017 (EDT)

OK, Fixer's first 10 EditPub submissions have been queued up. It looks like we have quite a few ISBN/ASIN duplicates, so a fair amount of judicious pruning will be required. Please remember to put Fixer's submissions on hold before you begin working on them in order to avoid collisions. Ahasuerus 20:08, 24 July 2017 (EDT)

The first batch has been processed. (Hurray!) Batch #2 is on its way. Ahasuerus 23:32, 24 July 2017 (EDT)

Batch #2 has been processed. Batch #3 has been submitted. Approximately 500 ISBNs remain outstanding. Ahasuerus 10:40, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

I didn't realize that there were batches (just saw a funny new kind of fixer submission). I've processed them. Roughly one half added ISBN to a sole ISBN-less publication, the other half tried to add an ISBN to a duplicate (ISBN-less) of a publication that was already existing with (in most of the cases) exactly the same characteristics. I've rejected the submissions and deleted the extra publications. Hauck 10:59, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

Thanks for reminding me about the duplicate ISBN issue! I have modified Fixer's logic not to create EditPub submissions for ISBN-less pubs whose Fixer-identified ISBNs are currently associated with other pubs. Fixer is aware of 190 "truly new" ISBNs, so we will add them first. Once that's out of the way, we can clean up the remaining 300 pubs. Ahasuerus 11:41, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

And there went the fun - rejecting and deleting duplicates was the funniest part of that exercise. :)

More seriously now... you will need to have Fixer redo those lists a few more times - I am assigning ASINs to the ASIN-less no-ISBN publications. I am doing as much cleanup as I can while I am on it but it is possible that some duplicate pairs may escape. Annie 13:31, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

Sounds good! Fixer's database is typically refreshed on Saturday morning as part of the weekly backup process. With luck, we will have the bulk of the currently outstanding ISBNs processed over the next 3-4 days. Once I refresh Fixer's database, I will rerun the process against the fresh data and see what he finds. Ahasuerus 13:40, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

(unindent) Batch #4 has been submitted. Ahasuerus 00:12, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

Batch #5, which includes the remaining "easy" ISBNs, has been submitted. Once the data has been processed, I will start submitting batches of duplicate ISBNs which will require additional massaging. Ahasuerus 12:04, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

Fixer has identified and submitted ISBNs for a few oddball publications which can't be easily categorized. Once they have been processed, I'll start submitting "known duplicate ISBNs", which will require additional cleanup. Fixer is currently aware of 295 of them. Ahasuerus 14:57, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

These are done. Now can we have the fun ones again? :) Annie 18:05, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

Certainly! As soon as I finish refreshing Fixer's database, I'll ask him to submit a bunch. Ahasuerus 18:42, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

Batch #7 has been submitted. Enjoy! Ahasuerus 19:15, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

Put one on hold (D Is for Dinosaur) that is an error. It is trying to add the tp ISBN to the ebook. I confirmed that via Amazon Look Inside which shows a different ISBN for the ebook. Don't know if this is an Amazon screw-up or a bug. -- JLaTondre (talk) 19:54, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

Voices & Edge of Sundown are more cases. Seems something is wrong with this last run? -- JLaTondre (talk) 19:59, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

So is Altar. And then there are cases like Coexist (which is totally messed up and I am still looking at it - and finally remembering to put hold on the ones I am working on.) I deleted a couple of dozen so far that were real duplicate publications but most of the ones that are not real duplicates are weird Annie 20:01, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

Glory and Splendour is similar, but in that one's case, Amazon Look Inside shows the same copyright page for the physical & ebook (including ISBN) so assuming that one is on Amazon's side. -- JLaTondre (talk) 20:08, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

Fixer's submissions are based on what Amazon returns via its API. Occasionally the API does weird things, e.g. when Fixer sends it an ASIN, it returns both the e-book ISBN and the tp ISBN. I have added a certain amount of bulletproofing over the years, but sometimes things slip through. If you see consistent patterns, please let em know and I will try to add more bulletproofing to Fixer.

Also, it occurs to me that Fixer is using the ISBNs that Amazon's API returned back when the data was first captured. I should probably get Fixer to re-query the API in case some ISBN have changed. I am not 100% sure that the new data will be better than the original data, but it seems likely. Ahasuerus 20:47, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

So should we opt on the side of caution and reject anything that looks weird? We won't lose any existing data this way and if that ISBN comes up again, we can deal with it then and there... Thoughts? Annie 20:53, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

I guess there are a few ways to approach this issue since there are fewer than 200 outstanding ISBNs left. For example, if the number of questionable records is reasonably low, then the reviewing moderators could reject them. I would then re-run the "rejects" against the Amazon API to see if the ISBN has changed. Ahasuerus 21:41, 26 July 2017 (EDT)

If we go that way, you will need to look for rejects that are still in the DB only - I am rejecting updates that try to update a duplicate as well (followed by deleting the one Fixer tried to update after moving whatever relevant information is missing (usually none but an artist name now and then). If that is the agreed upon process, I can go and reject my holds from yesterday. Between me and JLaTondre, we seem to be holding 9 from yesterday's batch - the rest were cleared. Annie 13:17, 27 July 2017 (EDT)

Sounds like a plan. I'll go ahead and submit the 200 "new" ISBNs that Fixer is currently aware of. Ahasuerus 15:06, 27 July 2017 (EDT)

(unindent) After updating Fixer's database with the latest backup file, I examined our history of rejected Fixer-generated EditPub submissions. I then resubmitted the affected ASINs to the Amazon API to make sure that the ISBNs were still valid. Everything checked out except for one publication record, now updated.

Many thanks to the moderators who have worked on these submissions. I can now start working on Phase 2 of the project, which will add ASINs to ISBN-13-enabled e-books. Ahasuerus 18:42, 29 July 2017 (EDT)

Publishers to merge, 2017-07-22

Please merge Kristell Ink into Kristell Ink / Grimbold Books (keeping the latter). Thanks --Vasha 19:26, 22 July 2017 (EDT)

Done. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 22:00, 22 July 2017 (EDT)

Suspect Untitled Awards

What is this report supposed to list? I ask because the three items there right now are not untitled awards as far as I can tell. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 22:13, 24 July 2017 (EDT)

The three listed awards were flagged because:

• they were not linked to titles
• their award categories contain the word "story", which suggests that they should probably be associated with title records

The first listed award was given to "the trilogy as a whole". We don't have an omnibus edition of the trilogy, so there is nothing to link to. If an omnibus edition exists in the wild, we can enter it into the database and then link the award to it. If not, then it will have to remain an "untitled award".

The second and the third awards were given to stories which we don't have on file yet, but we know where they appeared. Once the pubs have been entered, we can link the award records. Ahasuerus 22:48, 24 July 2017 (EDT)

Is there a current feature request to allow awards to be given to a series? This has happened in quite a number of cases (not just Japanese awards), so this might be good to have on the list. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 23:03, 24 July 2017 (EDT)

There are feature requests to allow linking awards to author records (FR 583) and to publisher records (FR 269), but not to series records. I agree that series awards are becoming more common -- even the Hugos have been changed to support series awards -- so it's something to consider. It will take some work, but it's definitely doable. It's actually harder to add support for author- and publisher-based awards because we'll need to decide how to handle record auto-deletion (which we don't do for series at this time.) Ahasuerus 23:31, 24 July 2017 (EDT)

A few extra mod eyes, please

I think OCLC has the wrong cover for a submission. Details at User talk:Zapp#Cover of Leaving Fishers. Thanks! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:28, 29 July 2017 (EDT)

Just Another Screw-Up

I just submitted an entry for the book La mascara by Dean R. Koontz and I listed ASIN: 454112 instead of Goodreads 454112. Bah! I’m an idiot. Anyway, I’ll change it if my submission is accepted. MLB 19:20, 9 August 2017 (EDT)

Approved and fixed for you. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:39, 9 August 2017 (EDT)

canonical name change: B. W. Clough

I think it is time to change B. W. Clough to Brenda W. Clough. Vasha 13:27, 10 August 2017 (EDT)

Sounds good. Ahasuerus 13:59, 10 August 2017 (EDT)

Making head or tail of Headline

Hello. Regarding this submission and the last three entries of this exchange, I am not sure what to do with this "Headline (Aus)" publisher, as part of the Hachette group. Would anyone know how to deal with it ? TIA, Linguist 04:36, 11 August 2017 (EDT).

Where do they get "Headline (Aus)" from? The Look Inside on AMazon doesn't show anything about "Headline", with or without "(Aus)". If anything, based on Look Inside, it should be Berkley or Penguin. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:07, 11 August 2017 (EDT)

Looking at the Australian Look Inside, it shows "Headline" or "Headline Publishing Group". No "(Aus)". ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:09, 11 August 2017 (EDT)

We may want to check with User:Clarkmci or User:Chris J, our resident Down Under experts. Ahasuerus 18:35, 11 August 2017 (EDT)

Thanks for your answers. I'll ping them and see how it goes. Linguist 04:38, 12 August 2017 (EDT).

All I can find is Hodder Headline Australia and Hachette Australia.--Chris J 16:47, 12 August 2017 (EDT)

Thanks a lot. I'll see with MLB if this tallies on not. Linguist 11:04, 13 August 2017 (EDT).

Publisher name to correct 2017-08-12

Gray Whisper Graphics Productions should be GrayWhisper Graphics Productions --Vasha 22:28, 11 August 2017 (EDT)

✓ Done, and added their website. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 00:50, 12 August 2017 (EDT)

Editor vs. series editor

Does a series editor get credited as the editor for a title, or is it just the editor? I ask because of this submission. I couldn't find anything about this in help or elsewhere in the wiki. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 02:02, 12 August 2017 (EDT)

And apparently this submission, too. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 02:03, 12 August 2017 (EDT)

IIRC, I've already refused quite exactly the same submission (a different contributor that made a tantrum). I've replied that we credit only the book's editor and not the series' and cited some PVed publications in this series. Hauck 04:56, 12 August 2017 (EDT)

This talk page sums it all: a "JJ", who claimed not to be John Joseph Adams tried to make the same updates that are now submitted by a "Johnjosephadams"; "a massively award-winning SF editor and magazine publisher whom I am sure has absolutely no time to spend faffing around on the ISFDB" my ass. Hauck 05:06, 12 August 2017 (EDT)

This issue was discussed a while back in the context of magazine editors. Magazines frequently list multiple "editorial" positions like "contributing editor", "editor-at-large", "editor in chief", "editor emeritus", "roving editor", "managing editor", etc. We only enter the person/people who had overall responsibilities for the publication. Everyone else can be optionally recorded in notes. Ahasuerus 14:44, 12 August 2017 (EDT)

Philip Dick's 'The Unteleported Man': proposed edits

There are two Philip Dick works titled 'The Unteleported Man': the 1964 novella and the expanded novel version which has 3 variants which were first published in 1983 as 'The Unteleported Man', 1984 as 'Lies, Inc', and 2004 as 'Lies, Inc'. Right now, all instances starting with the Ace Double publication of the novella are lumped together under a single title record as a 1966 novel. I'd like to sort that out by moving all of the novella publications from 1966 through 1979 to the novella title record, then changing the date of the novel title record to 1983. Comments? Objections? Alternate ideas? Thanks Markwood 20:35, 13 August 2017 (EDT)

Canonical name change: Glynn Barrass

Glynn Barrass actually uses the name Glynn Owen Barrass considerably more often. --Vasha 08:26, 14 August 2017 (EDT)

New ISBNs - 2017-08-15

Fixer has identified and submitted approximately 70 new ISBNs for ASIN-only books which have been entered since the last run some weeks ago. I have further tweaked Fixer's logic to:

• auto-reject ISBNs for pre-1968 books
• use ISBN-10s for pre-2005 books

If you find any other issues with Fixer's logic, please let me know.

Once these ISBNs have been processed, Fixer will submit another ISBN batch for ASIN-only books whose Amazon-provided ISBN is already on file for another pub. Like the last iteration, they will need additional TLC and merging/deletion. Ahasuerus 15:46, 15 August 2017 (EDT)

Duplicate ISBNs have been submitted. Please treat them gently. Ahasuerus 01:35, 18 August 2017 (EDT)

After founding by this way and deleting some duplicates (the same book, one with and one without ISBN) perhaps a direct SQL search on publications with the same title, an "e-book" format and the same publication date will find some more. Hauck 03:16, 18 August 2017 (EDT)

That's a very good point. A little digging suggests that we have at least 269 titles with possible duplicate e-pubs. I'll see if I can create a cleanup report. Ahasuerus 15:16, 18 August 2017 (EDT)

Publisher name to correct 2017-08-15

Egmont Books Ltd should be Egmont Books. --Vasha 10:02, 16 August 2017 (EDT)

Done. Hauck 11:22, 16 August 2017 (EDT)

Removing Inc. (etc.) from publisher names

As I understand it it's policy (official or unofficial?) not to include Inc./LLC/Ltd. and so forth in publisher names. Right now there are 121 with LLC, 200-odd with Inc., 217 with Ltd or Pty Ltd. If I agreed to check all those to make sure the suffix is really unnecessary, would you want to edit them all? --Vasha 13:48, 16 August 2017 (EDT)

Where did you see this policy? Our help even has an example that shows how Inc stays and gets regularized when present :) . I am against changing the name of a publisher to remove such elements when they are always presented in publications - the closer we are to what the book actually says, the better we are. Annie 16:06, 16 August 2017 (EDT)

I've had it mentioned to me multiple times over the years, and I've had moderators remove it from new publishers I've submitted. Whichever way we decide to go, we should make it consistent (if possible) and clearly spell it out in the policies. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:40, 16 August 2017 (EDT)

Due to irreconcilable positions on the whole subject of publisher's name regularization (of which this precise point is only a small part), I've stopped caring about it. Just for the record (again), my opinion is that publishers should be regularized (if only for casual browsers) and that changes of capitalistic nature to their structure (e.g. from an incorporated individual to a limited liability company) are not that bibliographically important. Hauck 01:30, 17 August 2017 (EDT)

I agree that regularization is a good thing. It certainly makes looking them up easier. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:56, 21 August 2017 (EDT)

(unindent) I will take this as a qualified "yes," then: remove them but be cautious about it. In that case, I will start by recommending removing all of the LLCs. I have checked those to make sure that they are not needed for disambiguation purposes.

Also, concerning IFWG Publishing Incorporated, they don't currently use the "Incorporated" on their website nor on the title pages of books. The two books from 2010 where Amazon gives the publisher as "IFWG Publishing Incorporated" don't allow preview of the title page. Two from 2011 use "IFWG Publishing, Inc." on the title page and another one uses "IFWG Publishing." After that they don't use "Inc." So I think IFWG Publishing Incorporated should just be merged with IFWG Publishing. --Vasha 11:01, 22 August 2017 (EDT)

I would not call this definitive based on the above. Until the help page reads what it does now, I would not remove them unless if I can confirm that they are not always there. Just my 2 cents. Annie 11:42, 22 August 2017 (EDT)

OK then, skip the LLCs, it's no big deal. But I stand by what I said about IFWG. --Vasha 11:47, 22 August 2017 (EDT)

I do not disagree about that one at all :) As you were the only PV in one of the books (and not PV elsewhere), I went ahead and merged them. Annie 12:47, 22 August 2017 (EDT)

Author name to correct, 2017-08-18

Jo Nesbo should be Jo Nesbø (English-language publishers do, in fact, use that spelling) --Vasha 18:09, 20 August 2017 (EDT)

Are there any that do not? ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 18:42, 20 August 2017 (EDT)

Well, I looked at all the editions we have... If there were any, I'd make a note on it. --Vasha 19:03, 20 August 2017 (EDT)

Okay, I've updated the author name based on that. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:58, 21 August 2017 (EDT)

The same goes for Alf Proysen: all the English editions we have print his name "Alf Prøysen." --Vasha 19:03, 20 August 2017 (EDT)

I've also updated the entry for this author. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:58, 21 August 2017 (EDT)

Fixer's Armchair Fiction submissions

Fixer has submitted about a dozen Armchair Fiction pubs. Please note that this publisher uses at least 8 publication series, which is not reflected in Amazon records, so additional fine-tuning may be needed. Ahasuerus 20:35, 20 August 2017 (EDT)

Fixer's Tor submissions

Fixer has submitted a couple dozen older AddPubs for Macmillan-owned imprints, including Tor. Normally, the Amazon API sends the original list price to Fixer, but something appears to be wrong in this case. Prices are way too high across the board and some ISBNs are not listed by OCLC. Please exercise caution. Ahasuerus 17:42, 24 August 2017 (EDT)

user Doshin

Hello, it seems nobody welcomed this user, his talk page is empty [1]. Henna 12:58, 25 August 2017 (EDT)

✓ Done. You're always welcome to welcome new users with {{welcome}} ~~~~. :) ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:18, 25 August 2017 (EDT)

Hallo Nihonjoe, next time, maybe. Thanks Henna 14:28, 25 August 2017 (EDT)

Canonical name change: Jaspre Bark

Jaspre Bark should be changed to Jasper Bark at this point. --Vasha 14:08, 25 August 2017 (EDT)

Done. --Vasha 10:54, 26 August 2017 (EDT)

publishers to merge, 2017-08-27

Legume Man Books and LegumeMan Books should be merged as the latter. --Vasha 00:45, 27 August 2017 (EDT)

Done. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:06, 27 August 2017 (EDT)

Canonical name change: E. Saxey

Esther Saxey should now be E. Saxey. --Vasha 16:40, 2 September 2017 (EDT)

Sorry, but there wasn't a positive comment (also, no negative one). I don't see the meaning in making the stub version of a name into the canonical one unless there's a overwhelming majority of titles listed for the former. Similarly, I'd also prefer the legal name above any pseudonym in likewise conditions. Christian Stonecreek 09:07, 5 September 2017 (EDT)

In this case, there isn't an overwhelming majority, but there is a majority, and the author is still publishing under the new name; and there's the additional consideration of courtesy to the author by using the name that fits with their gender. Together those two reasons are absolutely compelling. --Vasha 09:46, 5 September 2017 (EDT)

Okay, it seems that no one besides Stonecreek cares about this, and that's not a consensus against changing things. So, being as this is important as politeness to the author, I am going to make the change. If anyone wants to argue against, speak now or forever hold your peace. --Vasha 20:12, 6 September 2017 (EDT)

Pulbisher name correction

The Ed Greenwood Group Inc. should be "The Ed Greenwood Group" as that is how they refer to themselves. --Vasha 19:33, 2 September 2017 (EDT)

Done. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:39, 2 September 2017 (EDT)

Thomas Berger

Hello, I need a Thomas Berger born in 1965 in Munich :) Thanks Henna 15:01, 10 September 2017 (EDT)

I have disambiguated the authors. -- JLaTondre (talk) 16:56, 10 September 2017 (EDT)

Thank you very much Henna 17:45, 10 September 2017 (EDT)

Assignment of ISBNs to pubs without ISBNs - 2017-09-11

Fixer has submitted approximately 70 ISBNs for ISBN-less pubs. 7 of them are duplicates and will require additional TLC.

P.S. I have been dealing with a nasty flu lately and it has affected Fixer as well as the development schedule. I think I am doing better now, but it will take some time to catch up. Ahasuerus 19:23, 11 September 2017 (EDT)

Import Content Problems

I recently tried to import 30 short stories from magazines into an anthology. I got an error message that one or more of the items did not exist (tough error message because the error or errors are not identified; it might be better to import the "correct" items and leave off the errors). But when I checked each individual entry number, all were correct. However, when I plugged several of the numbers in, they did say that the story didn't exist. Double checking showed that the numbers were correct, however. I gave up and I'm importing only ten stories at a time. But I hope the software glitch can be fixed. Bob 09:49, 12 September 2017 (EDT)

Could you please post the ID of the anthology and the IDs of the titles that you were trying to import? Ahasuerus 11:16, 12 September 2017 (EDT)

Sure. The anthology is The Best of Subterranean and all of the stories are from Subterranean magazine. The stories are 561421,1500098,1764608,1004049,1005963,1011491,1119663,1120055,1120226,1353304,345231,1296991,1353300,1385177,1366131,1323519,1429268,1120425,1572668,1572669,1764598,1120218,1764615,1296971,1687565,1296970. There are two other stories in the anthology that have titles slightly different from the original stories; those had to be entered separately and varianted. The stories have now been entered, so you can just look at that pub. Bob 19:58, 12 September 2017 (EDT)

Thanks! There is an older version of the database on the development server. It's a copy of the main database as of 3 days ago, so it had the publication record but no Contents items as of 10 minutes ago. I tried entering the titles that you listed, both separately and as a comma-delimited string, and was successful in all cases.

I suspect that the problem is that something gets added to the copy-and-paste buffer when you copy the record number. Depending on the operating system (Windows, Mac, etc) and on the browser, it may be one of any number of invisible (so-called "control") characters. These kinds of problems are tough to debug because the details vary by OS/browser and because invisible characters are... well, invisible :-)

The next time you run into this issue, could you please try to enter the title number(s) manually, without copying and pasting? If it resolves the problem, then we'll be reasonably sure that the issue is on the browser side. Ahasuerus 20:43, 12 September 2017 (EDT)

Most interesting, thank you for your trouble! I'll try that next time. Bob 00:13, 13 September 2017 (EDT)

Stupidity knows no limits

I just entered the September-October 2017 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, because of several included stories, but, like a cretin, I forgot to put the date of the magazine on the entry. Aaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh! If accepted, I'll go back and put the date in. MLB 20:47, 12 September 2017 (EDT)

exodus 14

Hello, I uploaded a wrong cover. Please delete the old one. Thanks Henna 14:35, 18 September 2017 (EDT)

Done Annie 14:59, 18 September 2017 (EDT)

Thanks Henna 15:55, 18 September 2017 (EDT)

Authors to merge: Jessica Barber with Jess Barber

Could somebody please merge the author record for Jessica Barber with the author record for Jess Barber? These are both me, but I use "Jess Barber" exclusively now. Thank you! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by JessBarber (talk • contribs) . on 11:40, 19 September 2017 (EDT)

Done. The changes should show up by this evening. --Vasha 12:17, 19 September 2017 (EDT)

Thank you! JessBarber 16:29, 19 September 2017 (EDT)

Canonnical name change: Sid Chaplain

Hi, can a moderator please change Sid Chaplain into Sid Chaplin?--Dirk P Broer 16:06, 20 September 2017 (EDT)

Done. -- JLaTondre (talk) 16:12, 20 September 2017 (EDT)

Thanks!--Dirk P Broer 18:19, 20 September 2017 (EDT)

Mike Moscoe vs. Mike Shepherd

I am thinking that it may be time to change Mike Moscoe's canonical name to "Mike Shepherd". He has been using the latter since 2004 and at this point most of his novels are attributed to "Mike Shepherd". Ahasuerus 00:04, 21 September 2017 (EDT)

Yeah, he has far more under Shepherd than under Moscoe. He's even republished some of the Moscoe titles under Shepherd. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 11:24, 21 September 2017 (EDT)

Done. Ahasuerus 20:06, 23 January 2018 (EST)

Aventinum "Publishers"

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisher.cgi?34498 is not really the same entity now as it was between the wars, but neither of them had "Publishers" as a part of the name (the current legal entity is officially named just "AVENTINUM s.r.o." = Ltd., but I don't think we have to be sticklers about the capitalization that they don't use elsewhere themselves). Could we get rid of that word? Thanks --JVjr 16:31, 21 September 2017 (EDT)

The word had been obliterated despite its vigorous protests :). However - if these are two separate publishers that share the same name, we need to also split them. Which one do you think should keep the name and how do you think the other one should be called? I think the old one should be the one to be renamed but I still would prefer another opinion as well :) Or is it just a different entity but still considered a continuation of the old publisher? Annie 19:41, 21 September 2017 (EDT)

DJ Tyrer

Previously, the author page for D. J. Tyrer listed all of their work under that spelling, even though their name is printed "DJ Tyrer" in 95% of publications. But recently someone created a pseudonym page for DJ Tyrer. So OK, I am checking all of the publications and changing the record to "DJ" if that's how it's printed there. I wanted to note that here because you must be wondering why I'm making all these author name changes! It's obvious that if we're going to have two separate pages, the canonical one should be "DJ." --Vasha 00:32, 22 September 2017 (EDT)

Update: After checking all the publications, I find that Tyrer has been consistently using the spelling "DJ" since 2014, which is most of their writings. The few publications before that don't have online preview, but secondary sources seem to indicate the spelling "D. J."

I am strongly in favor of spelling an author's name the way they spell it themself. If they choose not to put periods after their initials, fine, that is their name, because they say so. In this case, also, there is a matter of gender involved-- I am sure that this has something to do with the author's change of name. But even for people for whom this isn't the case, I still think it is polite to use the author's preferred spelling. --Vasha 05:45, 22 September 2017 (EDT)

Sorry, you may be in favor of this stratagem, it's only that the help on entering initials says otherwise. We don't have a strong evidence that the authr's name is spelled in 95% of the publications in the way you propose as the majority of them is unverified (we still have verified publications that state 'D. J. Tyrer'. Stonecreek 06:38, 22 September 2017 (EDT)

Canonical name change: Gardner Goldsmith

Gardner Goldsmith should actually be P. Gardner Goldsmith; I will make the change tomorrow if nobody objects. --Vasha 13:29, 23 September 2017 (EDT)

Needed: Check on Bleiler's notation on A Complete Account of the Late Discoveries on the Moon: From a Supplement ot the Edinburgh Journal

It may be that the existence of a 1835 CHAPBOOK for this title may have been added erroneously. From the wikipedia article it is likely that there was only an initial serialization in the New Yorkian The Sun. The first CHAPBOOK publication seems to have come much later. Stonecreek 12:43, 24 September 2017 (EDT)

Sorry for the fuss: I should have checked SFE3 first. There seemingly was also a 1835 CHAPBOOK. Sorry again. Stonecreek 12:47, 24 September 2017 (EDT)

Der ewige Friede

Hello, please delete this cover. Thanks Henna 03:15, 26 September 2017 (EDT)

ASIN-ISBN reconciliation - 2017-10-07

Fixer has submitted approximately 100 ISBNs for ISBN-less pubs. Ahasuerus 14:14, 7 October 2017 (EDT)

Das Auge des Phönix

Hello, please delete the old version of the cover. Thanks Henna 16:24, 9 October 2017 (EDT)

Done. -- JLaTondre (talk) 19:36, 9 October 2017 (EDT)

Thanks! Henna 13:42, 10 October 2017 (EDT)

Was there any reason to bypass the primary verifier and uploader of the original cover for this?--Dirk P Broer 05:58, 27 October 2017 (EDT)

Hello Dirk, sorry for that. I take a look in the history, I replaced your cover one year ago (2016-10-04), some days later I got the lesson How to edit a verified pub by Marty. Apologizing once more Henna 13:46, 14 November 2017 (EST)

Der Flop

Hello, please delete the old version of the cover. Thanks Henna 15:18, 10 October 2017 (EDT)

Done, also added the artists to the image file. --Willem 15:49, 10 October 2017 (EDT)

Thanks! Henna 15:55, 10 October 2017 (EDT)

ISBN/ASIN reconciliation - 2017-10-14

Fixer has identified and submitted approximately two dozen ISBNs for previously entered ASIN-only pubs. Ahasuerus 22:16, 14 October 2017 (EDT)

ISBN/ASIN reconciliation - 2017-10-21

Fixer has identified and submitted 20ish ISBN/ASIN pairs that need to be reconciled. Ahasuerus 16:30, 21 October 2017 (EDT)

Ambrose Bierce's fables: what I'm doing

As of yesterday, the title and publication records for Ambrose Bierce's fables were in a terrible mess. I am sorting them out with the help of The Collected Fables of Ambrose Bierce, which has extremely detailed information about periodical publications and collected editions, plus a scanned copy of the first edition of Fantastic Fables. I would have left moderator notes on all of the edits I'm submitting except that things are kind of impossible to explain. Let's just say that I'm pulling everything to pieces and will put it back together again soon. FYI, none of the changes I'm going to make are going to affect primary-verified publications. --Vasha 17:02, 23 October 2017 (EDT)

ISBN/ASIN reconciliation - 2017-10-28

Fixer has found and submitted 18 new ISBN/ASIN pairs. Ahasuerus 11:43, 28 October 2017 (EDT)

ISBN/ASIN reconciliation - 2017-11-04

Fixer has identified and submitted a dozen ISBN/ASIN pairs. Ahasuerus 12:53, 4 November 2017 (EDT)

Analog Science Fiction and Fact

I just entered the contents of the November-December 2017 issue and like a klutz I forgot to enter the date. If my submission is accepted I will then correct this mistake. MLB 04:59, 8 November 2017 (EST)

Mark Parker disambiguation

Would it be possible to switch the disambiguator from Mark Parker (I) to Mark Parker which is a far less-encountered name? --Vasha 22:26, 9 November 2017 (EST)

Done. -- JLaTondre (talk) 22:59, 9 November 2017 (EST)

Das absolute Vakuum

Hello, please delete the old version of the cover. Thanks Henna 12:32, 11 November 2017 (EST)

Done. -- JLaTondre (talk) 16:46, 15 November 2017 (EST)

Thanks Henna 16:04, 20 November 2017 (EST)

ISBN/ASIN reconciliation - 2017-11-12

Fixer has identified and submitted 18 ISBNs for ASIN-only pubs. Ahasuerus 11:16, 12 November 2017 (EST)

Any more Japanese ones that need work? ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 00:58, 15 November 2017 (EST)

I am afraid Fixer can't access Amazon JP's data at this time. Amazon.com has a few Japanese ISBNs that Fixer is aware of:

• 9784062157865
• 9784150119546
• 9784990988708 - "Published by Kyojin Books. Which is a fund-raising initiative by the Author in the hope of raising money to help expand his business (www.kyojin-stehouse.com) and mission of sharing Irish Culture in Japan

but that's pretty much it.

That said, if you are looking for more Japanese ISBNs to munch on, Fixer has other sources. For example, Fixer is aware of 1,528 Japanese ISBNs which have been cataloged by WorldCat/OCLC and are related (one way or another) to our ISBN. If you are interested, I could try to convince Fixer to create submissions based on the OCLC data. Ahasuerus 11:29, 15 November 2017 (EST)

9784062157865 looks like it might be more of a picture book (it says on the cover it's a "movie storybook").

9784150119546 has been added.

9784990988708 has been added. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:52, 15 November 2017 (EST)

Regarding the OCLC items, let's hold off on that until next year. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:54, 15 November 2017 (EST)

Sounds good. Also, please note that many OCLC records come from older catalogs and use latinized versions of author names and titles, e.g. this translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Ahasuerus 14:47, 15 November 2017 (EST)

Change to invalid submissions

When viewing a submission which is no longer valid (typically because it references a deleted record) you can now view the raw XML data contained in the submission. Ahasuerus 00:16, 15 November 2017 (EST)

Thanks for this! Annie 16:56, 15 November 2017 (EST)

Change to submission review pages

Submission review pages have been changed. There is a new "Public View" link next to the "View Raw XML" link on the right. The intent is to make it easier for moderators to generate submission links which can be viewed by non-moderators. Ahasuerus 00:29, 15 November 2017 (EST)

Disambiguation: D. B./DB Waters

There is an author D. B. Waters with one title from 1896, and a recent author who seems to always spell his name DB Waters, so I have spelled it that way in a new submission. They should get a disambiguation I guess... --Vasha 20:06, 17 November 2017 (EST)

D. B. Waters and DB Waters are different records. Since the second seems to credit w/o the periods, I left it that way and added notes to both author records. If it turns out future additions make it confusing (like the second author is sometimes credited with initials), then we can normalize and add disambiguation. Unless someone thinks differently? -- JLaTondre (talk) 20:22, 17 November 2017 (EST)

Changes to the moderator interface

Two changes have been made to the moderator interface:

• The color of your own submissions has been changed to bright blue. Hopefully the new color works for everybody.
• All previously existing and newly submitted Web page URLs are now hyperlinked on moderator review pages and should be clickable.

Ahasuerus 20:43, 17 November 2017 (EST)

P.S. Moderator pages have been changed to display links to ISFDB Wiki pages for ISFDB-hosted images. Ahasuerus 18:22, 18 November 2017 (EST)

ISBN/ASIN reconciliation - 2017-11-18

Fixer has identified and submitted 14 new ISBNs for ASIN-only pubs. Ahasuerus 12:15, 18 November 2017 (EST)

Fixer's e-AddPubs

Now that the kinks have been ironed out of the ISBN/ASIN reconciliation process (hopefully), Fixer is going to start submitting e-AddPubs. Ahasuerus 12:38, 23 November 2017 (EST)

January-July have been processed. Fixer will start submitting August e-AddPubs shortly. Ahasuerus 17:41, 25 November 2017 (EST)

August has been submitted. Ahasuerus 13:12, 26 November 2017 (EST)

August has been processed, September is in progress. Ahasuerus 19:04, 26 November 2017 (EST)

September has been processed. October will be started shortly. Ahasuerus 18:31, 27 November 2017 (EST)

October has been submitted. Ahasuerus 23:28, 28 November 2017 (EST)

November is in progress. Ahasuerus 15:56, 3 December 2017 (EST)

Wiki cleanup: delete page after moving the content?

Regarding wiki cleanup I vaguely remember that there's a template or some other kind of code to put into the wiki page after its content has been moved to the database. Is that correct? Or do I just delete the wiki page after I moved the contents? Jens Hitspacebar 08:29, 25 November 2017 (EST)

Yes, there is Template:Deletion candidate, but it is for non-moderators to notify moderators of pages needing deletion (since only moderators can delete). Now that you're a moderator, just delete it. I recommend using an actual rationale (ex "contents moved to database") vs. the default page content. That will provide an explanation of someone is curious down the road, but it's not a big deal. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:44, 25 November 2017 (EST)

Ok, thanks a lot. Jens Hitspacebar 08:50, 25 November 2017 (EST)

ISBN/ASIN reconciliation - 2017-11-25

Fixer has identified and submitted 32 ISBN/ASIN pairs. Ahasuerus 15:03, 25 November 2017 (EST)

Time's Eye mm pb, inactive contributor

I submitted update of the mass-market pb Time's Eye, a record verified only by inactive user Astrodan. Submission 3637156, User talk:Astrodan‎#Time's Eye

I have not previously improved any record verified by some inactive user alone. Is it appropriate to complete the submission and then/simultaneously post notice here? --Pwendt|talk 12:50, 30 November 2017 (EST)

If you state it in the Notes to the Moderator (that the primary verifier is inactive), I'd think that this would be enough. Stonecreek 13:25, 30 November 2017 (EST)

Author correction: Stanley Péan

Stanley Pean should be Stanley Péan (I could not find any publication without the accent) --Vasha 14:23, 2 December 2017 (EST)

Fixed. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:34, 5 December 2017 (EST)

"Nikolái Vasilievich Gógol"

There are two publications containing stories by Gogol, this one where his name is spelled "Nikolái Vasilievich Gógol" and this one where it should be spelled without the diacritics. I suggest changing this to the form without the diacritics and making a note on the Spanish publication (since there is no way to do two separate pseudonyms). --Vasha 18:23, 2 December 2017 (EST)

I'm confused. There are many authors in the database that have two or more pseudonyms. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:54, 4 December 2017 (EST)

Including the author in question: Николай Гоголь. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:55, 4 December 2017 (EST)

The problem is that we cannot have both the diacritics name "Nikolái Vasilievich Gógol" and the same one without the diacritics (Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol) - it is an oddity of the software :) Annie 20:00, 4 December 2017 (EST)

I would agree with your proposal. Annie 20:00, 4 December 2017 (EST)

ISBN/ASIN reconciliation - 2017-12-03

Fixer has identified and submitted 14 ISBN/ASIN pairs. Ahasuerus 16:01, 3 December 2017 (EST)

2017-12-16 ISBN/ASIN reconciliation

Fixer has found and submitted 60 ISBN/ASIN pairs, most of them associated with Celia Kyle's books. Ahasuerus 14:56, 16 December 2017 (EST)

Ignore on Series with Duplicate Numbers

Can we get an "Ignore" link or button for entries on this report? The one item on there legitimately has two entries for #1 in the series (the original story was rewritten and expanded a bit). ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:50, 18 December 2017 (EST)

It would be easy to implement, but I think we typically handle significantly altered versions of works that belong to series in somewhat different ways. In my experience, they are either put into a separate subseries, e.g. the Chung Kuo Universe, or, if only one volume was rewritten, the original version is entered without a series number. Does this match other moderators' experience? Ahasuerus 20:30, 18 December 2017 (EST)

After doing a little more research, it appears the changes are not very big, so I've varianted the second one to the first. I'm still interested to see what others say about the original question. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 20:39, 18 December 2017 (EST)

Situation happens so infrequently & when it does can usually be handled like Ahasuerus describes. Given everything else on the roadmap and other existing feature reqeusts, I just don't see that it's common enough to worry about. -- JLaTondre (talk) 17:41, 20 December 2017 (EST)

Canonical name update: Alex Acks, Deji Bryce Olukotun

Tomorrow I'm going to change Alex Acks's canonical name to that from Rachael Acks; they've published quite a bit under that name in the past year. --Vasha 23:31, 27 December 2017 (EST)

Also Deji Olukotun should be Deji Bryce Olukotun. --Vasha 00:16, 28 December 2017 (EST)

Another author name change

It is also high time to follow DJ Tyrer's spelling preference and change their canonical name to not using periods. I've checked their publications and made notes on the very few that print the name "D. J. Tyrer," so could someone please make the change? --Vasha 18:00, 28 December 2017 (EST)