When Is It OK to Remove Books from a Listopia?

[Julianna]

I'm wondering if there are any hard and fast rules for when it's OK to remove a book(s) from a Listopia. Since one of my lists was hit last year by an uncaring, unthinking person who deleted hundreds of books, resulting in thousands of votes being lost, I take this sort of thing very seriously. I would also never remove books from a list someone else created, so I'm only referring to ones I personally started.

Lately, I've noticed books showing up on my listopias which do not fit the criteria I set forth in the title and description for the list. eg. Books that are clearly not romances or not paranormal romances on my Best Paranormal & Fantasy Romance list. Another example is anthologies showing up on my Best Romance Novellas & Short Stories list when I clearly state in the description that anthologies shouldn't be included since it's impossible to tell which story in the anthology is getting the vote.

My last example is my Best Romantic Beta Heroes list. Admittedly, this one is a little more subjective based on how a reader perceives the hero of the novel, but there are books on the list which in my most humble estimation do not have beta heroes at all. I've even received some comments lately from other romance fans to the same effect which is making me more seriously consider deleting them. I created this listopia for lovers of Beta Heroes in Romance and if there are books on it that clearly are not Romance or clearly do not have a beta hero then I feel like the list has been rendered useless and disingenuous to readers who might be using it looking for a specific type of hero.

Any advice or guidelines on how to handle this would be appreciated.

[Dee]

if the books do not fit the listopia, then they can be removed - but you need t be really sure that they do not fit

I REALLY wish that you could see justifications of why people added books to shelves - I know people can write them, and would like to see that required

[Lobstergirl]

Books that have nothing to do with romance or paranormality can be removed from a paranormal romance list. If you specify no anthologies, anthologies can be removed. Books lacking beta heroes (whatever they are) can be removed from a Beta Heroes list. Books on Italian history can be removed from Best African American Fiction lists. Books published after 1963 can be removed from "JFK's Favorite Books" list. Etc., etc.

[Emy]

As long as the listopia creator specify in the list specifies what is and isn't acceptable on the list, then inappropriate titles can be removed.

With regards to the beta heroes list, adding either a definition of what a beta hero is for the purpose of the list, OR link to an external description that does the same would help both adders and auditing Librarians. That's done, but perhaps you need to be more explicit if some are being added wrongly. If books are added that clearly don't fit the definitions given though, I feel that then they can be removed without incurring the wrath of the PTB.

[Julianna]

Thanks for the feedback, ladies.

Dee, that's exactly what I was thinking and why I asked the question. I do want to be as certain as I possibly can be before deleting. Sometimes I think people just vote for books without thoroughly reading the list description and in some cases, I think they play follow-the-leader. ie. One person votes for a book, so others do too just because it's their favorite book and they want to see it at the top of a list, any list.

Other times it's difficult to tell, so some sort of justification would definitely be helpful especially when I haven't personally read or am otherwise familiar with the book in question. In these cases, I get a little nervous about deleting books. I don't want to ruffle feathers or seem like a dictator about what can and cannot be put on my listopias. It kind of makes me wish that there was a way I could contact all the people who voted for a particular book to see if they can give me a reasonable explanation before I blow away all their votes.

[Lobstergirl]

If it's the type of list where people are actively leaving comments and talking about what's on the list, you can always leave a comment wondering whether deleting a particular book is appropriate. I see that many times on the lists I vote on. Sometimes if it's ambiguous, I'll leave a comment, e.g., "Is nonfiction acceptable too?" and if the list creator is receiving notifications about it, they'll often reply. But not all lists have responsive creators.

Given that you are the list's creator, you are the ultimate arbiter of the list's parameters, and what can be on it. You sound like a rational person who isn't going to be committing list vandalism, so you probably shouldn't be too concerned about your deletions.

[Julianna]

Thanks, Lobstergirl. The commenters on my lists haven't really been active enough to get a consensus of opinions that way, but after thinking about it, I've come up with another way to get feedback. I believe I'll post in a couple of the romance discussion forums, asking for help, especially with the books I haven't read. That way, I'll at least have additional input from fans of the genre before making deletions.