User talk:Spacecow

Welcome!

Hello, Spacecow, 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! Annie 15:30, 26 April 2018 (EDT)

Primary verified publications

Hello,

When changing primary verified publications, the DB etiquette asks for the other PVs to be notified. As the change you did was small and just in the notes and did not materially changed the publication, I made the notification and approved it but please contact the other verifiers before changed. Editors that do not want notifications for certain actions (notes updates for example), their talk pages will specify that. Thanks! Annie 17:42, 26 April 2018 (EDT)

Ace Fitzroy editions of Jules Verne

I've updated the Publisher Series The Fitzroy Edition of Jules Verne by amalgamating the information from the wiki page. Because this has been set up as a publisher series, the Ace editions don't quite fit, so I have taken the liberty of modifying these publications to refer to a new series The Fitzroy Edition of Jules Verne (Ace), which I will make a dependant of the original series. ../Doug H 15:37, 18 February 2020 (EST)

Conan the Usurper

Hi! It would seem that we already have your suggested addition of a publication in this list (the third one). Is there anything setting the two apart? Stonecreek 06:30, 13 March 2020 (EDT)

Hi moderator, if you are here ask me what I am doing, you have all the right to do so

I verify my owned books, if they don't exist I try to add that edition. I think i just realised I have been using the clone button as a preview button, which is why I have so many cloned book submissions of the same book. I do not dare touch other members submissions, and I have no idea how to answer people that write on my message board or how to DM/PM members here. But I do the best I can. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Spacecow (talk • contribs) .

You are doing fine. :) You answer to people here the same way you posted this message - except that you use the small Edit button on the right side of the title of the message you are responding to instead of the tabs at the top. We do not have a DM/PM system but you can leave a message on anyone's Talk page in the same way you just left this one here :) Annie 11:53, 4 September 2020 (EDT)

So if I write something here, you will get notified? How does that work? Anyone who has written something in this thread (let's say a third person had written something here as well) will get notified whenever there is an update? --Spacecow 18:35, 4 September 2020 (EDT)

I have you on my watch list. If you look at the bottom of the screen, there is a checkbox for that ("Watch this page") -- and when I post somewhere, I always leave it checked. If someone else posts and leaves it checked, they will also get the change into their watchlist. So it popups up on my Watchlist - and I look at it often :) You can also add a page to your watchlist by clicking on the tab for that at the top of the page. As I greeted you the first time, you are permanently on my watchlist - I never remove people.

And as we know that new editors can get a bit lost, most moderators will also look at Recent Changes occasionally to see if a new editor may need help with something where noone is watching or where the watchers are on vacation or something. We are a friendly bunch and tend to try to take care of our new editors. :) Annie 18:50, 4 September 2020 (EDT)

The Pool of Fire & The City of Gold and Lead

Hello. You've asked a couple of questions in the Note to Moderator field of your submisisons here and here, which I will try to answer as best I can :) (by the way, that's not the right way to ask these kind of questions. Much better to post questions like these over at the Help Desk (press '+' next to edit at the top of that screen for a new question/subject)

• For The Pool of Fire you asked ' Price is $1.50, cover says $1.25. Do you want me to try to correct this, or do you want me to turn to the uploader? If the Edit History is empty, does that mean the sole (in this case) primary verifier is the uploader? '
  • For older records (like this one), there is no edit history available as the version of the ISFDB at the time did not keep submission information yet
  • If an edit history exists, you can use that info to determine the very first editor that submitted the record. However, there's no need to contact the initial submitter, only the verifiers (if any) need to be contacted for notification/confirmation (see next bullet).
  • As to your question how to fix this, the standard approach is to confirm with any other (active) verifier if he/she agrees with the correction by posting on his/her talk page. Now, for this case Kpulliam has not been active for a long time, and in addition he transiently verified the publication, meaning he had it only temporarily in his possession - probably from a library. So, since it isn't possible to ask him, you can fix this record for the Fifth Collier Books printing of The Pool of Fire yourself by either updating the price from $1.50 to $1.25 (but only if the cover of your 5th printing says $1.25 too). Alternatively, you can upload a new cover scan and leaving the price at $1.50 - assuming of course that the cover of your 5th printing copy says $1.50.
• For The City of Gold and Lead you asked ' price says $0.95, cover says $1.25. Do you want me to report this to... the person uploading this edition? How do I know who that person is? '
  • As above. You can contact the primary verifier on his/her talk page to ask whether the price is wrong, or the cover image. As Taweiss has been active as recent as August 29th, he should be answering fairly quickly. He will either fix it himself, or ask you to fix the error.

As both your submissions didn't change anything, and I've (hopefully) answered your questions to your satisfaction, I've rejected them. I will monitor your talk page, so you can reply here (by pressing the edit at the right of this subject's title, and indenting with one or more colons ':') with any answers or further questions you may have. Or over at the the Help Desk of course! Happy editing! Regards, MagicUnk 09:58, 6 September 2020 (EDT)

My printing clearly states $0.95 on the cover. Perhaps you have a later printing. TAWeiss 17:57, 7 September 2020 (EDT)

The Sands of Mars

A few items on cover images:

• Cover images should be uploaded using the "Upload new cover scan" option on the publication. If you are adding a new publication, you should wait for the publication to be added and then upload it using the link. The link will properly name the image as well as apply the correct templates.
• Cover images should be limited to 600px on the largest side.
• Once you have uploaded a cover to the wiki, you need to click on the image (so you get just the image) and copy that URL. The link should not have "archive" in it (if it does this means you clicked on the date link on an old version in the File history section). If the link has an archive, it will only ever show that image and never update if someone uploads a better image.

For all of those reasons, I took Image:The sands of mars 1971 sphere.jpg, resized it, re-uploaded in via the correct method, and updated the cover link in The Sands of Mars. Hope that explanation was clear. If not, please let me know what questions you have. -- JLaTondre (talk) 13:08, 19 September 2020 (EDT)

If I am ever forced to upload a cover image again, I will come back here and try to understand all these steps. I took a decent 30 minutes trying to read through the documentation and figure out this procedure. I'm just gonna keep linking to amazon covers as long as I can. A question about amazon since I have your attention, is there a particular sub-domain of amazon we are supposed to link to, where we can be sure the cover will stay unchanged? Apart from what you write about a publication still being in print, any other cover I find on Amazon is guaranteed to keep its url? --Spacecow 18:00, 19 September 2020 (EDT)

Unfortunately, I don't believe there is a guarantee for any Amazon cover. Usually they are pretty stable, but some can change. You could try asking at ISFDB:Help desk to see if someone else has seen a pattern. -- JLaTondre (talk) 18:48, 19 September 2020 (EDT)

I used your proposed method to upload a cover this time, thank you very much - it went a bit smoother. However, you seem to have a size limit (in bytes), which I don't find any documentation for, on the cover as well as the 600px limit. It took me a bunch of trial-and-errors to get the cover uploaded, converting it to different formats. A final question: after using the "Upload cover scan" on a specific publication that was missing said cover and having it successfully been uploaded, do I still need to submit an edit request to have the image attached to the publication in question? --Spacecow 04:28, 4 October 2020 (EDT)

Yes, you still need to edit the publication and add the URL into the book. The upload creates the connection from the image to the publication but not the other way around. Make sure you link to the image and not the wiki page with it :) Annie 06:31, 4 October 2020 (EDT)

I, Robot

To moderator who took upon him/her-self to go through my submission, here's a cover we are supposed to have permission to link to.
[1]

Voyage to Venus (Perelandra)

I approved you edit adding the cover art to Voyage to Venus (Perelandra). The cover has only "Voyage to Venus". Does the title page include the "(Perelandra)"? Thanks. -- JLaTondre (talk) 12:24, 4 October 2020 (EDT)

Yes, the title page reads: "Voyage to Venus (Perelandra)" --Spacecow 14:36, 4 October 2020 (EDT)

I could add that part as a note and some other stuff from the copyright page if you want me to. --Spacecow 14:42, 4 October 2020 (EDT)

Please. When the cover and title page differ, it is always good to have a pub note so there is not confusion down the road. We are good with more details also. ;-) -- JLaTondre (talk) 16:03, 4 October 2020 (EDT)

The Best of Frank Herbert 1952-1964

Cover art for this confIrmed as Ray Feibush on the Bruce Pennington Fan Page on Facebook. --Mavmaramis 10:55, 9 October 2020 (EDT)

If you say so. I have no idea myself - nothing in the book --Spacecow 16:26, 9 October 2020 (EDT)

The Grey King

About this one. The second 1979 printing will indeed be the fourth printing. If the two 1979 printings are listed in your book, then it is 4th - in which case, you should clone for it and leave our third printing in place. Annie 16:34, 25 October 2020 (EDT)

Thank you. I'll cancel my edit request and will make a new entry. --Spacecow 08:55, 26 October 2020 (EDT)

I've approved your submission, but it needs some more massaging :) Best to state explicitly that this is a fourth printing. Also, I suspect the +[1] in the Pages field is for an "About the Author" or "Acknowledgements"? If so, the number of pages should simply read 188, as generally speaking these "About the Author" and "Acknowledgements" are not meaningful (there are exceptions of course. Those are recorded as an ESSAY in the Contents section). You are of course still free to make a note about them. See also here and this howto for an explanation on how to calculate and enter page numbers. Regards, MagicUnk 09:55, 26 October 2020 (EDT)

Done, mentioned printing and I hope I solved the page issue. --Spacecow 13:10, 26 October 2020 (EDT)

Perfect! Thanks! MagicUnk 15:42, 26 October 2020 (EDT)

Six Gates from Limbo

Cover artist of this is Gino d'Achille, see ginodachille.com. Horzel 17:19, 22 January 2021 (EST)

If you say so. That is fine by me. --Spacecow 17:28, 22 January 2021 (EST)

The Star Diaries

Hi! I imported the interior artworks and corrected the page count for the publication mentioned above. If you find time please check the beginning pages for the pieces: they were taken from a different edition that has the same count of x+275 pages. Thanks, Stonecreek 00:22, 31 January 2021 (EST)

Looks good to me. --Spacecow 10:24, 31 January 2021 (EST)

Shakespeare's Planet

Re this - surely the same artwork as on this edition - only different colours and signiature "removed." --Mavmaramis 14:20, 4 February 2021 (EST)

Mission to Universe

Question: for the 1965 Berkley edition of Mission to Universe by Gordon R. Dickson where you are listed as a primary verifier, Heritage Auctions lists the cover artist as Jerry Dodwil. (https://fineart.ha.com/itm/paintings/jerry-dodwil-american-20th-century-mission-to-universe-paperback-cover-1965-mixed-media-on-board-18-x-10-inches-457-x-254/a/8000-71230.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Archive-ThisAuction-120115)

Is it ok to add this information and user the Pub notes list Heritage Auctions as the source? aardvark7 15:54, 9 May 2021 (EDT)

For me it's ok. I find nothing in the book that mentions the cover artist. --Spacecow 07:36, 10 May 2021 (EDT)

Gardens of the Moon

Added a couple notes and the LCCN to Gardens of the Moon. John Scifibones 11:13, 10 June 2021 (EDT)

The Healthy Dead

While verifying The Healthy Dead, I added several pub notes and an ext ID, John Scifibones 13:07, 10 June 2021 (EDT)

Galaxy 1963-10

Cover art of this issue is credited to Dember, but the same but differently cut cover art of Galaxie #1, Mai 1964 is clearly signed R McK, that is, Richard McKenna (not the writer). Horzel 11:08, 20 July 2021 (EDT)