User talk:Greg Hullender

Welcome!

Hello, Greg Hullender, and welcome to the ISFDB Wiki! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• Help pages
• Field-by-field guide to entering new publications into the database
• Help:Getting Started
• What the ISFDB Wiki is for
• FAQ
• Wiki editing help - Tips on how to use the wiki-specific features when editing wiki pages.
• Wiki Conventions - How things are usually done on this wiki.
• Help:How to upload images to the ISFDB wiki

Note: Image uploading isn't entirely automated. You're uploading the files to the wiki which will then have to be linked to the database by editing the publication record.

Please be careful in editing publications that have been primary verified by other editors. See Help:How to verify data#Making changes to verified pubs. But if you have a copy of an unverified publication, verifying it can be quite helpful. See Help:How to verify data for detailed information.

I hope you enjoy editing here! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will insert your name and the date. If you need help, check out the community portal, or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! Hauck 19:14, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

Apex Magazine, January 2017

Hello, I've approved your submission for this issue but had to make some chnages to conform to our standards: 1) changed all dates to 2017-01 (cover date trumps all), 2) regularized "J.J. Litke" to "J. J. Litke" (spaces are mandatory), ditto for Wise, 3) deleted one extra EDITOR record (titled Apex Magazine - 2016) that would mess up things, 4) uploaded a scan into our system as we're not allowed to deeplink to the specified website, 5) added title series "Apex Magazine" to put the issue in the proper grid, 6) regularized Sturgis' name and varianted the essay. The result is here. Thanks for contributing. Hauck 19:30, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

Thanks!

This was my first submission, so I should get better with practice.

I'm struggling to figure out how to connect a magazine issue with the list of issues for that year--or how to create a new series for the new year. I hunted and hunted in the help text, but couldn't find it.

This is done via the merging of issues' titles per year (e.g. merging Amazing, January 1930+Amazing, Februray 1930+Amazing, March 1930 into one title record with three issues ("publications") attached to it), and, after approval, renaming the resulting title (that has kept one of the merged issues' title) e.g. to Amazing - 1930, it's always a two step process. Hauck 08:31, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Beneath Ceaseless Skies, #219

I accepted your edit of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, #219 but made some changes to match ISFDB conventions:

• Binding: We enter Beneath Ceaseless Skies as a webzine. While it is published both on the web and as an ebook, we use the web version (i.e. webzine) as the primary format and include a note in the publication notes fields stating it is also available as an ebook. The ISFDB doesn't have a good way for dealing with magazine in multiple formats.
• Price: The price field entry should include the currency symbol. The ISFDB deals in multiple currencies.
• Image: We can only use images from sites that have explicitly given us permission to do so. See ISFDB:Image linking permissions for a list of such sites. If you wish to contact the site to see about permission, the instructions to do so are below the list.
• Series: The series should be given as "Beneath Ceaseless Skies". The " - 2017" is applied to the title record (which is not editable from the new publication screen, but has to be done after the new publication is submitted).

We do appreciate your submission. ISFDB has some conventions that need learning, but everything should be in the help links in the welcome message above. We hope you will continue to contribute. And please let us know if you have any questions (ISFDB:Help desk is a good resource for asking). -- JLaTondre (talk) 01:09, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Lightspeed, February 2017

Hello, I've approved your submission but made some changes to conform to some of our arcane standards:

• 1) added Title Series "Lightspeed" which, when you enter a magazine will put it into this series and BTW into this grid,
• 2) dismabiguated Adams' editorial to Editorial, February 2017 (Lightspeed, February 2017) as he may have written more that one editorial for a February 2017 magazine, note that you'll may put it into its own series here,
• 3) changed "Ashok Banker" to "Ashok K. Banker" for the INTERVIEW record (an interview is always given as being with the canonical name regardless of what's indicated in the publication, lest technical problems arise),
• 4) changed "Coming Attractions" from NONFICTION (reserved for book length works) to ESSAY, note that you may wish to disambiguate it.
  

After this there was a (lenghty) second phase that I've done for you: 1) merging the already-present-in-the-db titles (McGuire, MacLeod -given as a novelette-, Sterling, Stableford, Bishop) in order to avoid to have for example two Taklamakan short stories in Sterling's page, 2) varianting all the titles by pseudonyms (Banker, Wanak, Odell) to titles by the canonical name, 3) merged the February issue to the yearly (2017) title, which is IIRC what your question above was about.
The result is here.Hauck 08:59, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Thanks again.

Is there any way I can do most of this myself? I feel bad that I'm creating so much work every time I add a new entry. For example, I looked up each of the reprint works in isfdb before I entered their data (that's how I got the publication dates) but I couldn't see how to report the connection in the form. Likewise, I keep trying to tell it which grid to put the issues in, but nothing I do seems to work, and I haven't been able to find the right section of the instructions. Or are these things I'm not actually able to do myself owing to permissions and such?

Thanks again!

A multiple answer:

• I usually made myself the needed adjustments to the publications that "brand-new" contributors enter. It's not that you can't make them yourself (the are some actions that are moderator-only, but those are not) or that I think that they are too complicated, but in my experience, the learning curve for entering data in the ISFDB is immediatly quite steep and I (and other moderators) tend to spare new editors the "maintenance" tasks (merging, varianting...) that are due to our chosen data structure and are not bibliographical tasks per se and are sometimes quicker via moderator's tools. Be reassured, you quickly will be asked to do all this by yourself (with the help of a moderator, of course).
• For a text already present in the db that is also in the publication that you want to enter, there are two ways to proceed: 1) the simplest is to enter the text a second time with the publication (like you did, note that the precise dating is not necessary) then "merge" it with already existing one (this will allow you to set the date or the length) this is done by using the link "Check for Duplicate Titles" on the left of the author's page and "pairing" the duplicate texts then choosing the value of the differing fields (e.g. the date); 2) another way (needing some familiariry with the db) is to use the "Import Content" link on the left on the publication screen then using the "Option 2" part of the screen. By passing the TitleID (the unique identifier of a text), for example "83185" for Taklamakan, you'll add the text to the publication.
• To put a issue of a magazine into the proper grid, you'll have to enter the name of the series to which it belongs to (usually simply the name of the magazine itself) into the "Series" at Title level. It means that this should be done at title level (here) and not at publication level (there, you'll notice that the field is names "Pub Series"). This will insert the issue in the grid a the place corresponding to the date given at publication level.

Hope all this helps. Hauck 09:19, 14 February 2017 (UTC)

Apex January 2017

Thanks for adding the January issue of Apex but there was a bit of a problem with it. You indicated that the edition you verified was the ebook, but in fact you took your information from the website, which is a bit different from the ebook. If you've no objection, I'm going to make the following changes: delete "Words for Thought" and "From the Vaults" which are web-only; change the order of the items; change the title of one poem to "On the Edge of the Stone-Meadow" which is the title in the ebook (different from online -- the ebook one is correct according to the author, and I've added a note to that effect); add the subtitle to "The Once and Future Chief". Also corrected a typo & added notes and interior art. --Vasha 04:27, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

Talking to the Ghost at the Edge of the World

ISFDB credits per the title page. It is not uncommon to have differences between the ToC, copyright statements, and title pages (sometimes, none of them will agree). We always use the title page. As such, I've had to reject your edit. Thanks. -- JLaTondre (talk) 16:39, 28 January 2019 (EST)

Good to know. Thanks. --Greg Hullender 16:47, 28 January 2019 (EST)

Characters in the Margins of a Lost Notebook

Hi, You should take this -essay vs fiction- to the primary verifiers, Markwood and Albinoflea.--Dirk P Broer 20:28, 10 February 2019 (EST)

Thanks. I've posted questions on their talk pages. What do I do if they never respond?

--Greg Hullender 11:38, 11 February 2019 (EST)

Hi, Greg. Thanks for catching this error! I submitted edit to the title record, to change it from 'essay' to 'short story'. That will fix all publications where it appears, so you can cancel your edit. Thanks again! Markwood 12:01, 11 February 2019 (EST)

Clarkesworld, #144, September 2018

Hi. Just stumbled on fact there's two entries for this issue of Clarkesworld, one of which you verified. It appears to me that you need to verify this one http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?685505 since it's connected to the issue grid, and we need to delete the one you previously verified http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?703932 since it's not connected to the issue grid. If you disagree, please let me know, otherwise please make these edits. Thanks! Markwood 14:56, 14 February 2019 (EST)

Clarkesworld has a problem in that there are two grids; one is for the ebook edition and the other is for the print edition. The ebook edition hasn't been updated in about a year for some reason. I was hoping to clone the print ones and make them ebook ones, but apparently I screwed that up. Can you suggest how to proceed? --Greg Hullender 17:57, 14 February 2019 (EST)

Editor title records should always be in a series (that is how the software links magazines together). I added Clarkesworld Magazine - 2018 to the Clarkesworld Magazine series (the one for the ebook records) and the grid issue is resolved. -- JLaTondre (talk) 22:27, 14 February 2019 (EST)

Thanks. Is all of this documented anywhere? I'd love to fill in some of the missing issues of magazines like Clarkesworld, but I'm finding it impossible to do it without messing something else up.

Clarkesworld, Issue 136, January 2018

While the September issue above is resolved, there is an issue with the January issue. This record is listed as an ebook format and it is in the ebook magazine listing, but it had 1) a title using the print format (Issue 136) vs the ebook format (#136); 2) the print ISBN; and 3) page numbers. I have corrected those issues. However, if you actually have the print version, then you need to unverify this record and verify the print version.

In addition, you verified it, but left "Data from Amazon.com as of 2018-01-19." When a publication is verified, the data should be from the publication. A secondary source statement should only be used on a verified record for data not in the pub and then the statement should state what data is from the secondary source (ex. "No price on book. Price from Amazon.com as of 2018-01-19."). So from whatever format you actually have, the current statement should be removed or edited as appropriate.

Also when entering ebooks without ISBNs (like Clarkesworld's), it's good to enter the pubs ASIN in the external identifier field. This will allow the software to link back to the Amazon record. Thanks. -- JLaTondre (talk) 22:46, 14 February 2019 (EST)

On a general note: As the page count rule is stated as For magazines, the rule is to use the actual page count - including the cover. For example, early issues of Fantastic Universe numbered the interior pages from 1 to 192, not counting the front or back covers. This would be entered into the ISFDB record as "196"., I have changed the page count for Clarkesworld, Issue 148. This may be necessary for other issues, too. Also, the phrase 'Data from Amazon.com as of' (or similar ones) becomes obsolete upon primary veryfing a publication, because you or other primary verifiers are now recognized as the source for the data. You may want to review pved issues for both aspects. Thanks, Stonecreek 10:34, 21 February 2019 (EST)