Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
This topic is about
Choking Butterflies
Book & Author Page Issues
>
Link broken on B&N site
date
newest »
newest »
Very probably not. Individually checking and maintaining the millions of book links on Goodreads would be an insane job. Especially since most of the problems will be at the bookseller sites and so out of GR control. Patience is called for. Lots and lots of patience.
Is there any way I can just let you know when the book becomes available on B&N? I'm getting complaints that the link is broken.Thanks,
Dave
Dave wrote: "Is there any way I can just let you know when the book becomes available on B&N? I'm getting complaints that the link is broken.Thanks,
Dave"
When the book arrives on B&N the link will most likely work OK. Until then there is nothing that a librarian can do to remove the buttons.
There is the option to speak to customer care:
http://www.goodreads.com/about/contac...
but I'm not sure they can do anything either. I don't remember seeing a book page without the cluster of buying buttons.
Who are you receiving complaints from? And why?
Mod
I don't understand - does GoodReads require that all books be available at barnesandnoble.com?
No The buy links are customizable by user so my list of links is probably different to the list of links you see when you look from a book page.
If an edition exists at the book seller or library with the same ISBN or ASIN as the book you are looking at on GR then you will be routed to it at the book sellers / library site.
If you use the BN link on a book with an ASIN then it will fail as the ASIN only works on amazon.
Edit: and vice versa - use the amazon link on a BN edition (with ISBN13 starting 249) then that will fail since the 249 number only applies to BN
Mod
Not at all. But the link will be there for every book (based on user choice and/or location), regardless of whether that particular book is available via that link or not.
Now I'm totally confused. Will the "Buy form B&N" link exist for all books, even if they're not on the B&N site and never will be on the B&N site? If so, why doesn't GoodReads consider that an undesirable user experience?
My understanding of good website design is that you want to avoid broken links whenever possible. And this seems like something that's straightforward to automate.
Dave
Dave wrote: "Will the "Buy form B&N" link exist for all books, even if they're not on the B&N site and never will be on the B&N site? If so, why doesn't GoodReads consider that an undesirable user experience?"So it is Dave...I'm no fan of broken links either, especially when someone is clicking to buy the book!
[EDIT - I just checked and the link for my book to Lulu doesn't even bring it up, though it's printed by Lulu.]
It is lame, but "it is what it is." For all of the benefits provided by this site (for free), it's easy for me to except this shortcoming. Just be sure to add a URL to your website and direct potential readers there. [Edit Profile/Official Website.]
It is odd that people are complaining, but alas, some people love to complain.
I asked Patrick Brown to pass along a request to fix this bug. I hope the developers get around to it before too long.Thanks for your help, everybody.
Dave
It's not a bug, just because a book is for sale at BN does not mean it will not be available else where I.e at libraries when people donate books or second hand book sellers so limiting the links to one place is inappropriate, in addition users want to buy from theirselected shops.The links are also used in other ways by librarians
Each user can customize the links. I despise Amazon, so my preference is for Barnes and Noble. If the link doesn't connect, I know it's not available there...and probably IS at Amazon.
That's fine. When you looked up "Bug" in the index of the original Apple II manual it said, "See Undocumented Feature."Dave
Dave wrote: "That's fine. When you looked up "Bug" in the index of the original Apple II manual it said, "See Undocumented Feature."Dave"
If you look up "Map" in the current Apple manual it probably says "Unimplemented Feature".
Banjomike wrote: "If you look up "Map" in the current Apple manual it probably says "Unimplemented Feature"."Do I detect a note of irritation?
lafon حمزة wrote: "Banjomike wrote: "If you look up "Map" in the current Apple manual it probably says "Unimplemented Feature"."Do I detect a note of irritation?"
...possibly. I'm not a fan of Apple at the best of times but lately...
Is there some way to disable this button/link until such time as the book is available on the B&N site?
Thanks,
Dave