User talk:WXRock

From ISFDB
Revision as of 21:06, 5 December 2009 by WXRock (talk | contribs) (→‎TOTU #18)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Welcome!

Hello, WXRock, 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:

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! MHHutchins 04:41, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Tales of the Unanticipated

Thanks for uploading the cover scans for Tales of the Unanticipated! I have linked all 15 images to their respective Publication records, e.g. Tales of the Unanticipated, Spring/Summer/Fall 1996 now shows its associated image. In the future, if you want to do the linking yourself, there is a detailed Help page describing the uploading and linking process. Thanks for editing! Ahasuerus 05:44, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

TotU, Fall 1986

Your update to this pub gave the catalog number as #001. Ordinarily, this field is not used for magazines, and issue numbers are placed in the notes field. If you feel strongly enough about using the field for issue numbers, please feel free to bring it to the attention of all on the Rules & Standards page. Also, you updated the essay "It Was a Dark and Stormy Knight" with the subtitle "Damon Knight judges bad SF", but the authorship remains "anonymous". If the author is not given, authorship is shown as "uncredited". "Anonymous" is used if the editor acknowledges that the author is unknown or choose to remain anonymous. (This may have been credited before you started working on issues of TofU.) Thanks. MHHutchins 22:52, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Tales of the Unanticipated Issue #11-14 changes

Hi. A couple of questions and a minor suggestion about your proposed changes to Tales of the Unanticipated #11.

  • "Mathoms" (1 of 2) -- In this one you're adding it as SHORTFICTION, but in #6 and in #10 it is an ESSAY. Do you know if the three are similar, and if so, which classification is appropriate? Seems they should be the same. In the absence of knowledge, I'd be inclined to make this instance be ESSAY like the others (since it is outvoted), but perhaps it is different? Or perhaps they should all be SHORTFICTION?
  • "Mathoms" (2 of 2) -- I assume each of these "Mathoms" is different. To distinguish them from one another, you could consider including the publication title in parentheses, much as we would for the more generic titles such as "Introduction" or "Prologue". According to the help doing this is not settled policy, so I won't say you should do it, but you might consider it.
  • Why do you want to add "Books:" to Science Affectation Corner? Is that part of the title? The TOTU site doesn't include it (uses it only as a section header). I see in John Sladek's bibliography several do include that, while several others do not.

I've temporarily placed this submission on hold while asking you about it. Thanks. --MartyD 00:57, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

p.s. I see "Mathoms" and/or adding of "Books:" to other Sladek titles come up again in the proposed changes to #12-#14, so I've temporarily put those submissions on hold, too. --MartyD 01:03, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

I'll add the pub title to the Mathoms entries. If two things have the same title and author, they are treated as reprints of the same thing, right? They are essays. I'll be more careful with the category.
I took the liberty of indenting your responses (you indent by adding colons to the beginning of a paragraph; each colon gets you another level of indentation).... No, a combination of title and author need not be unique. But people will then be inclined to want to "merge" them, so anything one can do to help avoid confusion by other editors in the future is a good thing.
I added "Books:" to John Sladek's various Sinus Infection Corner pieces to be consistent with how they were how the earlier issues were entered. In our index, and in the TOC, we have them categorized as "Books", as in book reviews. I think the TITLES should be without "Books:". I'll go back and fix the earlier issues. What's the best Entry Type for book reviews? Just Essay?
Ah, I see. Yes, the titles should be without the "Books: ". The Entry Type should be "Review", convienently available for just this purpose! :-) For the ones that are already there with the wrong type, it will take a separate edit for you to see it, but once the type is "Review", the labels change to tell you to enter the Book Title, the Book Author(s) and the Reviewer(s). I think you'll find it pretty straightforward. To save you an edit-and-wait-for-review cycle, I will go modify them to be Reviews (where I can tell to do it), and then you can fix the titles and supply the appropriate authors. If I miss any, you can change the type by editing the title. Note: You can't do this from the Edit This Pub screen -- the Review type choice is not available there -- you have to do it from the Edit Title Data screen (click on the title's link, then choose Edit Title Data from the left-hand menu).
If you were adding new content to a publication, you'd see a Book Reviews Found in this Publication section below the Content section that would allow you to enter them appropriately in the first place.
As to the edits for #11-#14, is there way for me to edit my edits? Or do you want to apply them and then I'll fix them.
Unfortunately, no (or not yet, anyway). Edits have to be either accepted or rejected, and rejection is all-or-nothing (so, for example, I couldn't accept all of the other edits in a submission but reject just the addition of "Books: "). That said, I will approve them so as to preserve all of the other information you added, and then you can fix them up (I'll convert those review title types for you, as I mentioned above).
BTW, I expected to find errors in ISFDB. I've found more errors in OUR index! A couple pieces with no author, a couple with the wrong author. A MISSPELLED author's NAME, which, my name being Willcox, I'm sensitive to. WXRock 19:02, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
A proofreader's job is never done! :-) --MartyD 02:46, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Here are links to the titles I converted to Review:
See if that works out better. If you decide it's not appropriate, I can always change them back. --MartyD 03:10, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
One more: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?124289 --MartyD 03:23, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

more Tales of the Unanticipated comments

Hi. A couple more comments about your recent TOTU submissions:

  • This interview is specifically dated "unknown" (0000-00-00). Is that intentional? Keep in mind that it's the the interview's first publication date, not the date the interview was conducted.

Nice work on all of this. --MartyD 03:42, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! I'll fix the Letters and the interview date.
Now 64-hour question... I have 10 more issues to add. Can I give them to you in XML? I saved the XML from when I submitted #19. If I send you #20, is there a way for you to import it? That would save LOTS of time. I don't have the XML for a REVIEW, but I don't have any more issues to enter that have reviews.
I will check into this a little more for you. If it can be done, I'd be happy to give you a hand with it. --MartyD 11:48, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
It looks like it can be done. If you send me the XML, I will test it against a local copy of the database and then import it for you. You should be able to use the "E-mail this user" link from the left-hand side "toolbox" when on either my talk page or my user page. If that doesn't work, let me know. --MartyD 12:52, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
Can you tell be the values for cLength? A short story is "ss". Do you know the values for Novella and Novelette? WXRock 19:56, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
Novelette = nt, Novella = nv --MartyD 22:32, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
Now we're cooking with glass! Would you take a look at http://totu-ink.com/obscure/isfdb_feed.php?issue=20 ? If that looks right to you, I'll send it to you as an XML file. I've discovered INTERIORART! I'm glad our artists can get credit, at least from issues #20 on. Hmmm... Maybe I can generate updates for the earlier the issues!!! WXRock 22:42, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
And one more question. I have the publication date (or month, in some cases) for all the issues. Would it make sense to fix the dates? Starting with issue #20, it's an ANTHOLOGY instead of a MAGAZINE, so I assume the real publication month would be in order. WXRock 05:15, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Yes, if you have the information, by all means record it. --MartyD 11:48, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Actually, Help:Screen:EditPub#Year (see the For magazines bullet) is a little ambiguous about this. You might pose this question on the Rules and Standards discussions page (with which I see you're familiar). In your case, you DO know the publication date. If the conclusion is that the information should not go in the date field, I recommend at least recording it in the notes. --MartyD 12:02, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Questions, too, are never done. If one of Mr. Sladek's columns reviews more than one book, should I enter it as more than one review? That makes sense from a what-was-reviewed point of view, but I'm afraid we lose ... the ... Sladekness of the piece. We lose his wonderful titles. (I'm sorry he never did use "Sinus Infection Corner".) And the column is usually more of a jazz riff that eventually gets back to the theme of the book.
Hmmm. Would it make sense to enter the column as an entity on its own and also the REVIEW entities? WXRock 05:37, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Exactly! As Help:Screen:NewPub explains, "Review columns and interviews are also entered as ESSAYs. ... The details of what was reviewed, or who was interviewed, are recorded with REVIEW and INTERVIEW types, which are entered via the special Review and Interview sections described below." Ahasuerus 05:41, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Yes, indeed, and in retrospect I guess it is better to have those titles that were previously entered be ESSAYs, instead of REVIEWs, with the REVIEWs still to be added, assuming you have that information. I will change them back to ESSAY (the above links will remain unchanged). --MartyD 11:48, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
And I have to revise what I just said here, too. I forgot that titles can't be changed from REVIEW to something else. I've added back ESSAYs with the original column titles and page numbers (dropping any lingering "Books: "). You can follow those links above and change the data to reflect the reviewed book. You can also add more REVIEWs for the cases where the column reviewed more than one book. --MartyD 12:28, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
OK. I'm going to make judgment calls about whether or not a book has been reviewed. The Science Friction Corner in issue #10 mentions a book by his friend Thomas M. Disch, lists publisher, price, and pages, says he doesn't review books written by friends, and just wonders why he doesn't see it in stores. That's not a review. WXRock 17:23, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
That sounds fine. Any of the ones that are not reviews we can remove and delete. --MartyD 12:52, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Tales of the Unanticipated, Spring/Summer/Fall 1990

I approved the Note change in Tales of the Unanticipated, Spring/Summer/Fall 1990 , but the result doesn't look quite right. Our support for HTML in notes is accidental rather than by design, so sometimes you have to poke around to see what works :) Ahasuerus 23:33, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Oh crap. WXRock 23:37, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
I've rethunk how I'm showing arrows and my current edit ought to work. I'll wait on doing the others until I see how this one looks. WXRock 00:18, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
It looks better now. Also, I have put all Tales of the Unanticipated EDITOR Titles in a series, so that should help once we add a Series link to the Publication page. Ahasuerus 00:51, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
You need a pound sign between the ampersand and the number to get the little arrows. E.g., ← or →. Also, be careful not to include a trailing "}" in the anchors' hrefs. I'm not sure where those are coming from. What you had entered as:
<a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?TALESUNAN61989}">Prev&8592;</a>
Should be:
<a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?TALESUNAN61989">Prev&#8592;</a>
I fixed up the notes in Summer/Spring/Fall 1990. If you edit that pub, you can see the actual HTML. --MartyD 11:38, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
I had a heck of a time with those arrows. I've switched to the codes &larr; and &rarr; which SHOULD work. I've updated the note in issue #5. We'll see how that rides. As to the errant bracket, it's an artifact of the script I use to generate the notes entries. ("Artifact" sounds so much better than "bug"!) WXRock 19:57, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
A "(View All Issues)" link has been added to Magazine publications as you can see here. Hopefully it will alleviate the need for complex HTML in Notes. Ahasuerus 20:09, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
Well that's cool! I'll remove the back-and-forth stuff from the notes. Will new issues be automatically added to the series? WXRock 20:13, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
All new Magazine pubs have an EDITOR Title generated for them automatically. You can see them appear on the editor's Summary Bibliography page after submission approval, but they are not automatically added to any Series. In order to add an EDITOR Title to a Series, we need to pull it up in "Edit Title" and enter the Series name in the "Series" field. Ahasuerus 21:52, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #20 and #22 imports

Check them out:

I had the following problems with the original XML:

  1. Apostrophes need to be escaped by doubling them. E.g., Slonczewkski's -> Slonczewkski''s. These fortunately cause the submission to fail.
  2. Dates must be complete. An interview had just 1999 instead of 1999-00-00. This, unfortunately, gets through the submission process, leaving a submission that cannot be approved, only rejected.
  3. An empty Artist tag caused viewing of the submission to die, forcing a hard reject. This is really a bug in the moderator screen, which I'll log and fix when I have time, but for now do not include empty artist tags:
<Artists>
 <Artist></Artist>
</Artists>

Please do review and let me know if you notice anything amiss in the two publications. Feel free to send me more of them. It's easy to test them locally, then submit them for real. --MartyD 12:44, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I'll send #21 and see how that goes. If that is smooth, I'll send the rest.
What do you think of the idea of filling in the interior art in the first 19 issues? WXRock 17:42, 1 December 2009 (UTC)
Sure, if you can generate the additions, I'm happy to import them, too. --MartyD 23:59, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #1 - #19 art imports

Figured I'd make one section for comments/status on the imports as I do them. --MartyD 11:37, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #1

Imported. --MartyD 11:37, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

By great luck, I have copies of 1, 2 and 3 with me. It is supposed to be singular. If you haven't fixed it, I'll do that now. WXRock 01:31, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
I didn't know which was right, so no fixing. For the rest of the things below, I've prefixed anything I did change with "FYI:". Everything else needs addressing. --MartyD 02:31, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #2

Imported. --MartyD 12:02, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

  • FYI: I changed "There Was and Old Lady..." to "There Was an Old Lady..." on 1064095, matching the poem.
  • I changed "Handbag, The" to "The Handbag" on 1064096, but that title still disagrees with the short story title The Handbug ("bug" vs. "bag"). I notice Locus has "Handbug", while totu-ink seems to have both variations in different places.

TOTU #3

Imported. --MartyD 12:12, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I also added "Nontraditional Computer use..." to be consistent with Issue #2.
And I fixed the art dates, which were 1987 because that's when it was really published, not 1998 with is printed on the cover. The whole pub should be 1987, but I'll leave that for another day.

TOTU #4

Imported. --MartyD 00:56, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • FYI: I changed "Bullforg" to "Bullfrog" on 1064443, matching the title of the story.

TOTU #5

Imported. --MartyD 01:31, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • FYI: While looking at the result, I noticed a capitalization mismatch between a new interiorart entry and an existing story title. I changed "The" to "the" on the story.

TOTU #6

Imported. --MartyD 01:41, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • Mathoms should probably get the trailing "(Tales of the Unanticipated, Fall/Winter 1989)" that's on the essay.
It's Those Things in the Garage, Or A Zombi's Apology in the pub, so I coalesced on that version. My read of it is that it is two alternate titles and that the "or", not being IN either title, should be lower case. And the "A" is capitalized because it's the first word of the other title. I that that was the writer's intention, but the current capitalization is the editor's decision. I have to deffer to this editor because he is one of my two oldest friends. ;-) WXRock 20:44, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #7

Imported. --MartyD 01:52, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • FYI: I changed "Inside A Bear" to "Inside a Bear", matching the capitalization on the story.
I agree. It's capitalized in the pub, but I consider it a typo. WXRock 20:46, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #8

Imported. --MartyD 02:02, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

I compromised on I [heart] My [dog] (and fixed my index too). In the pub, it really is a graphic heart and a picture of a dog. Like the bumper sticker. WXRock 20:57, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #9

Imported. --MartyD 02:16, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • FYI: I changed the page on Twenty Orbits With Aurora / New Year's Eve from 21-23 to just 21. Ranges are not a value covered in the help, and using the range causes the title to be sorted out of place in the publication contents list. Using the starting page seems consistent with multi-page content. If it's supposed to be multiple pieces of artwork, then some things are missing....
The TOC suggests no space, the title on page 21 suggests a space. I'm going with no space. WXRock 21:07, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
It's "Goldman's". I wonder if the listing here came form Locus or the other way around? WXRock 21:07, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #10

Imported. --MartyD 02:24, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • FYI: I changed "Sience Fiction Coroner" to "Science Fiction Coroner" on 1064533, matching the essay.

TOTU #11

Imported. --MartyD 02:30, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • FYI: I changed "... Refelections ..." to "... Reflections ..." on 1064560, matching the poem.
Good eye!!! WXRock 21:11, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #12

Imported. No comments!! :-) This issue still has a bare Mathoms. --MartyD 02:39, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #13

Imported. And REALLY no comments. --MartyD 02:45, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #14

Imported. --MartyD 02:56, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • This issue has a bare Mathoms that's also still classified shortfiction.
I's "a Stillness...", with the ellipses, which I added. (But NOT the four-dot ellipses as it's shown in the TOC.) WXRock 21:22, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
One of them is still Comes, while the other is still Came. --MartyD 23:41, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
  • FYI: I changed "Twenty-first" to "Twenty-First" on 1064615, matching the capitalization on the story.
It's "Twenty-first" in the pub, so I changed them. I think "Twenty-First" is correct, but again I deffer to Mr. Ed. WXRock 21:22, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #15

Imported. --MartyD 11:13, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • Is Untitled entitled "Untitled" or simply not titled? If the latter, standard ISFDB practice for untitled interiorart is to give it the title of the publication (adding trailing [n] if there's more than one such piece of art in the same publication).
  • FYI: I changed "Amdromeda" to "Andromeda" on 1064829, matching the spelling in the title of the story.
*Blush*!!! WXRock 21:26, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #16

Imported. --MartyD 11:32, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • This issue as a lingering "Sense Fission Corner" Review not pointing to a book.
Locus Mag got it right. WXRock 22:36, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #17

Imported. --MartyD 11:37, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • FYI: I changed "be" to "Be" on 1064860, matching the capitalization used on the story.
The pub has it lower case in the TOC and on the story. I think it should be upper case, so I'm leaving it. What's the guidance on duplicating the pub in this case? WXRock 22:42, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
According to the Case bullet in the help, case should be regularlized to ISFDB standards unless there's evidence the author intended the specific case used. --MartyD 23:43, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #18

Imported. --MartyD 11:59, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

  • Is Untitled entitled "Untitled" or simply not titled?
  • FYI: I changed "Daughters" to "Daughter" on 1064872, matching the story. Although totu-ink lists the plural, there's a lot of evidence that it's singular....
"Daughter" is right. WXRock 01:06, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
I placed your edit to this on hold. Did you really mean to change the art credits to single first names (Doug and D'Wayne)? --MartyD 23:50, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
The quotes in the names must have killed the XML. WXRock 01:06, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #19

Imported. No comments. --MartyD 12:03, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Done! I'm done! I can't believe I'm done through Issue #29, art and all. Mega- :-) WXRock 23:14, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

TOTU #28 publisher

I approved your submission for TOTU #28, but it was setting the publisher to "t". I changed this to "TOTU Ink". Sorry if that's not right. --MartyD 23:59, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Again, *Blush*!!! Moving just a bit too fast. WXRock 00:38, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
Retrieved from "https://isfdb.org/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:WXRock&oldid=180142"