Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Questions (not edit requests)
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How to search for Comma and other punctuation/space errors in author names
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There's no way to search for the comma. Can't even use the Google trick as Google won't search for any punctuation. Another reason why an author index would be nice, IMO.
We might be able to get a developer to do us up a static list of names which have commas in them right now, for a fixing party. :)
Cait wrote: "We might be able to get a developer to do us up a static list of names which have commas in them right now, for a fixing party. :)"Oohhh. If one of the devs would do this, I would definitely attend the party!
Me too, sadly enough :PAs if I don't have enough to do at work fixing all the screwed up metadata and indexed... Really. The library's author files are less organised than here!
[EDIT: Nevermind the "Dr" party ... I'm finishing Dr. XYZ then starting on some other issues I can search for]
Another party a developer might be able to help with, if also no way to search for "spaces" are the initials missing their periods in author names. For example,using our conventional ^ in place of space, if a developer could give us a list of all the author names containing "^A^" "^B^" ... "^Z^" so we could replace with "^A.^" and so on.I think would really round up a lot of stray editions back to the correct author profiles to be properly combined.
And quotation marks or parentheses in author names.
If a static list is generated, I'm in! :)
I'm also finding that some initials without periods aren't initials. Missing diacritics instead.For example "Jean L Pez" should not be "Jean L. Pez" but instead is actually "Jean Lõpez." Data imports rather than goodreads members are usually the culprit.
Debbie wrote: "I'm also finding that some initials without periods aren't initials. Missing diacritics instead."Within the last year or so Goodreads got better about supporting diacritics, I think most of these errors are from before that. Though I could be wrong, I'll look at the dates on the edits closer next time I stumble across one.
I'm pretty much seeing the diacritic issues on imported data; I'll try to remember to check for dates. I have trouble spotting the problem if there isn't a bookcover to look at.
Debbie wrote: "I'm pretty much seeing the diacritic issues on imported data; I'll try to remember to check for dates. I have trouble spotting the problem if there isn't a bookcover to look at."I guess I could have explained that better. :P
I think that before Goodreads understood diacritics it "translated" them into a space in the database. I don't think the import was wrong, just Goodreads interpretation of it.
So if the data came from an import over a year ago it's probably not the importer's fault.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...The author's real name is different from this. But he known to be "Halikarnas Balıkçısı" by everyone. He used it for all work. "Halikarnas Balıkçısı" can't separate, it's not name and surname. it is a nickname.
"Balıkçısı, Halikarnas" is incorrect in sort by name. is there any way to fix this?
Mod
rivka wrote: "No. A two-word name will show up as "second, first" in many places, and that is not customizable."Is there any hope it will be in the future? It's also needed for authors with 2 surnames, or with "jr" "III" etc at the end.
A "sort by" for authors, that is.
rivka wrote: "No. A two-word name will show up as "second, first" in many places, and that is not customizable."İf we use its,
"." or "_" or "-"
the name looks like a single word, doesn't it?
But i think we mustn't do that
Ahmet wrote: "rivka wrote: "No. A two-word name will show up as "second, first" in many places, and that is not customizable."İf we use its,
"." or "_" or "-"
the name looks like a single word, doesn't it?
Bu..."
I don't think we should, because, in order to solve a lesser problem, we would create a greater one (a wrong author name).
Mod
It's not an immediate priority, but possibly at some point.
And Ahmet, Moloch is right. Do not make the author name incorrect in that way.
The note at top of "about this author" mentioned in message 14 reads confusing to me. (Okay, first word in a sentence not being capitalized makes me twitchy to start with and not used to seeing "Note" without "librarian", "publisher", "author", "literary trust" or some such listed with). Not sure what the note even means by "separate" but it might just sound confusing to me. Or may be translating into English weirdly.
As not a profile in language I'm familiar with, I am not editiing myself.
Odd to have note just in English since rest of "about this author" is not. Maybe someone can also translate the note? (Might be translated further down in language bits I can't read).
I thought nicknames at best usually get put in quotes in "about this author" section with all the titles, degrees and other biographical info. And are normally not allowed to be used in author name field? Like I said, confused. Maybe nickname and pen-name or pseudonym mixed up for all I can tell (other sites say this is "pen-name").
Mod
Not sure what you are asking about nicknames. If an author publishes under a nickname, we call that a pen-name. And if said pen-name has two parts, the system will treat it as it would any name.
I meant where OP says "The author's real name is different from this. But he known to be "Halikarnas Balıkçısı" by everyone. " maybe by "real name" they meant "legal" or "birth name."Where they say "...it's not name and surname. it is a nickname ." maybe by "nickname" they meant "pen-name." — which unfortunately for their point is correct to use as author name in profile and book data.
I honestly didn't understand the original or followup messages (except for wanting to view authors correctly sorted by last name, that message I understood. And I am always in favor of more sort features!)
I just edited topic title from just plain "comma in author name" in case it helps thread stay more on original topic.
i know, my english is terrible.so, i did not add this not. i wrote only here oO
Mod
The fact that the note was in English was not the main reason I deleted it, though. It's not a necessary note in any language.
Ahmet wrote: "i know, my english is terrible.so, i did not add this not. i wrote only here oO"I'm sorry if I sounded like I was judging your English—that was not intentional. Just my own confusion trying to make out what phrases like "separate" were trying to say. Even for native English speakers, lots of terms and phrases used differently on this site by different librarians and members.
I have no Turkish at all.
And did not know if note on author profile was appropriate or not. Just that if rest of profile was in Turkish (even if an English translation was also included) that any notes or edits probably should also be in Turkish. Consistency.
There is no problem:) i learned new things. Thanks for your help.
Is there a way to search for author roles? Keep running across some oddities. Including some that start quoting book titles, editions, or descriptions, likely caused by missing delimiter in data feed."With" seems awkward too. Listing someone as co-author already means "with."
Mod
No.
As for inconsistencies, those most often come from importer data.
I'm running into a lot of author names that for some reason say "Firstname, Dr. Initial. Lastname" (possibly some non U.S. standard I'm not familiar with) and less frequently some dual authors where a member correctly puts "firstname lastname" but also adds duplicated as a co-author of exact same name formatted "lastname, firstname" (presumably because not sure which way goodreads wanted or trying to make sure their author showed no matter how searched).