Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Book & Author Page Issues
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Another user with a lot of bogus book entries
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message 51:
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Carolyn
(new)
Apr 09, 2009 10:59AM
This user looks familiar - I think they came up on a thread a while ago for a similar reason (really poor manual entry of books). I know I did a bunch of edit work on what they had at the time, at that point a bunch of their shelves had different people's names on them and the group wondered if it was a 'joint' user account...
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What do we do if they keep adding books incorrectly? It's really the author part that's bothering me, since that's adding more authors to the database. In my message I said how to do it correctly, but they are continuing to add them wrong. Do we just keep fixing it?
Jessica, I'd suggest contacting GR at the contact us link, with a link to the user's name and a full explanation of the problem. GR has been known to send messages to confused users, and maybe they'll listen to GR if not to us. That's my advice. Or, you can try messaging again. Continuing to correct indefinitely is not high on my personal list of options.
Lisa, me neither. Maybe contacting GR will work better. I sent them pretty much the exact message I sent before, just adding the note about ISBNs.
I agree on contacting GR. In problems as complicated as this, sometimes it takes a person of authority to get through to a user. They (GR) have been really helpful the couple of times I've sent messages about librarian problems.
Here's a problem one I don't know what to do with. They added this one but forgot to include the title (it's a great illustrated classic). http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62...
I changed that to Great Expectations, which seems a good fit....I've also messaged the member pointing out some of the problems that are being caused by their approach.
Thanks Squirrel! I haven't had the chance to work on their stuff at all. Might have a few hours to catch up (3 weeks behind) with my friends' update emails today, and if I don't any edits it will probably be from those.
I did like 200 or so edits last night. They just kept coming :(
Update:This user is still adding books incorrectly. How do we report them to GoodReads?
This is so frustrating :(
Use the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page.
AND put a link to their profile in your explanatory message so they can find and contact them! Thanks.
*sigh*Has anyone ever gotten a response from this user? S/He is still adding books incorrectly. Not as bad as it used to be, but still... :(
I also e-mailed the GR Powers-That-Be this morning.
Ugh...I've done a lot of edits myself for the same user. Hopefully they'll stop them.
Cws has added 524 books, and the messages in her (?) inbox are unfortunately still unread. I will attempt to get through to her, but her email is bouncing as well. A perfect storm!Since many of you have spent some time fixing her mistakes, what percentage of the 524 books would you say are erroneous? Should we delete all 524? Or are there enough correct entries that it is worth going through one by one?
Thanks for your help on this one!
I think a lot of his/hers might be legitimate, they do put in ISBNs with many books. The problem is when they don't exist in the database. They horribly format the titles, and then often don't add the ISBN, even if it most likely exists. I'd say about 5-10% (which, unfortunately, is actually quite a few books for this user) that they add to this system are duplicates. It could probably be much more than that, but those are ones where they put ISBNs in the title (but not in the ISBN area, ARGH!).Another problem is they are putting the shelving call tag (I'm pretty sure this is the Conway Springs library, maybe they don't have a catalog so they are using this?) as a review.
Unfortunately, I think the only solution to this problem would be to be to revoke adding privileges until they respond to a message on how to do it correctly, but I'm not sure how feasible that would be.
I think the only solution to this problem would be to be to revoke adding privileges until they respond to a message on how to do it correctly, but I'm not sure how feasible that would be.I have a feeling that Goodreads isn't capable of doing this but I can think of enough "manual adders" that it would be great if Goodreads was able to do this. Edit: This being not allowing selected members to manually add books on at least a temporary basis.
I hope they could do that too (just temporary). The saddest thing is that it's pretty easy to figure it out (and makes it very clear when you add a book to do it correctly). It pains me quite a bit when I see stuff like this.
Lisa wrote: "I think the only solution to this problem would be to be to revoke adding privileges until they respond to a message on how to do it correctly, but I'm not sure how feasible that would be.I have ..."
I think that's a great idea if possible. I also think maybe there could be an even better way for manual adders. Just off the top of my head maybe there could be a time limit where you have to be a member for a certain amount of time before being allowed to add? If you need something added before then they could come right here and give the info and a librarian could enter it.
I don't know how many multiple listings I've found that I've deleted- some for the same exact book from the same exact user. With spelling mistakes, no ISBN, their own opinion in the description.
Jessica- I'm not real sure about the exact user. It was awhile ago that I found some and I happened to come across them, I wasn't looking for them.
Now when I find something I go to the users page and look through other listings looking to see if they have more but I didn't do that back then.
Hopefully it won't be too many.
Mod
This has been discussed before and vetoed by Otis. It is too likely to discourage new users, especially those with a collection that includes a large number of pre-ISBN books.
Also, I don't think length of membership here would necessarily solve the problem. There are many members who join but who wait a while to do much of anything. I do think on an individual basis though, with those relatively very few people who are confused manual adders, messaging them and suspending their ability to manually add would be helpful, for the GR database and for GR librarians and hopefully for those members too.
True, true...both good points. I think what you guys are talking about with the excessive incorrect adding would be great. I was trying to think of a way to prevent us from even having to do that and to cut down on librarian work but like you guys have discussed before, it's easier said than done. LOL
Jessica @ 66 --I agree with Jessica @ 67. Plus, some may be legitimate books, but it's just so hard to tell, given the information that the user is (or isn't) providing. And yes, the formatting on the manual adds is HORRIBLE. That's usually the key to me that they were added by CWS: all of the information you need for the book is in the title, as one continuous string of text (i.e. titleyearsometimesisbnpublisherformatillustratorandoreditor).
And I think a lot of us have spent a lot of time trying to fix the books, that it would be sad to see them deleted now :P
I made contact with Cws! She was apologetic and I think will be amenable to adhering to formatting guidelines going forward (time will tell). You are correct in that she is from a small library and is using Goodreads to make a shelf list for all the books they have on site. I gave her several instructions, and also asked her to read the messages in her Goodreads inbox.
Oh jeez....she'll maybe be reading for awhile. I'm sure I sent one along the way somewhere. LOL
Yay! Goodreads can be a valuable asset to her and her library, but it'll help everyone if she keeps the GR catalogue clean.Thanks Jessica!
I just got an email from CWS. I suggested she join this group & ask for some help. I don't know if she knows about the import function, either. Sounds as if she's under the gun, but nice & willing to try to do the right thing.
Since she is at a library, and may have acess to a bar code scanner (my library does all checkouts via bar codes), the information in the following thread may help.http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...
