Is there a way to notify people of pending request to edit?

[Niknik]

This is more of a question out of curiosity than being something needing attention:

I was wondering if there was a way to let users know that someone has already requested a librarian change/merge/add book edition info in order to avoid duplicate requests & stuff.

I mean, if I want to submit a change request to the librarians on a book, is there some way to see that someone is already working on a change that was requested here previously?

I usually try to search the discussions for the book keyword or author name before asking, but a lot of these messages only list a link to a book & you can't tell which book it's regarding.

Just curious....like maybe a "pending change" notice or something.

Or is this something that isn't really a problem?

:-)

[Susie]

I haven't seen that many duplicate requests, more duplicate postings. And if it's done, it's usually obvious to both the one requesting as the one doing the request.

Edits generally don't take long at all (depending on the enormity of the request), so putting such a notice on the book would be pointless, particularly as you'd be no doubt going into the same place as to edit.

So therefore I'd say that it isn't really a problem. We librarians usually work fast! :)

[Niknik]

Oh, ok then! :-)
I have to agree that you do indeed work very quickly!

[Banjomike]

Working on a task that another librarian is already working on can be an issue with jobs that take more than, say, 12 seconds to complete. I've lost track of the number of times I've done something only to find that another librarian has already added that new book or that additional author. Stupid Captchas on new books!!

Sometimes that speed can be an issue in itself. I've also lost track of the number of times I've started something and realized that it should NOT be done e.g. an illegal pre-publication cover change etc. This often means reverting changes if someone else has already jumped in and made the requested change without doing the background work.

Duplicate requests often happen if the first request for a job is refused. The person requesting will ask in a different group hoping to get a result from a different librarian. If you see such a dupe it is useful to post links in the threads pointing to the other versions.

[Susie]

I have gone in to create a book only to find that someone has created it at exactly the same time and they managed to get their submit in first...

But I really don't see how it would be possible to have a flagging system without duplicating the already duplicated work (unless you mean on posts themselves, which wouldn't work in the case of two people posting the same thing, which doesn't happen as often as librarians doing the same thing at the same time).

[Emy]

I usually put a "Working on ..." reply as soon as I start to let people know, unless it's a REALLY fast request, and then edit that post to say "done".

For stuff posted for Staff/Supers though, I do usually leave a Librarian Note, especially when I've separated out editions to allow a specific merge.

[Eric]

Emy wrote: "I usually put a "Working on ..." reply as soon as I start to let people know, unless it's a REALLY fast request, and then edit that post to say "done"."

I like that idea and will start to employ it when I'm working through something big but I'm finding a lot of other librarians don't read the logs... or the comments... or anything but what they want to fix. I mean I know there is no help for someone just charging on through but I've seen to many times where people just don't care. Even after I've messaged them personally, asking them to please take care - to no reply - and they just soldier on.

[Banjomike]

Eric wrote: "I mean I know there is no help for someone just charging on through but I've seen to many times where people just don't care. Even after I've messaged them personally, asking them to please take care - to no reply - and they just soldier on. "

Contact support. You don't need to use a 'flag' button but just use the contact form. Support send a warning and then if the offender doesn't take notice they wake up one morning with black helicopters landing in their garden. It also works when offenders have private profiles.

[Eric]

Noted... especially on the private profile thing. Thank you.