Announcement: Combining works with many shelvings no longer temporarily disabled; merges now up to date

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Please note that to allow for necessary maintenance, the ability to combine works with over 1000 shelvings has temporarily been disabled. You should still be able to complete most combines, but combining any of the J.K. Rowling books is currently right out. If you're not sure if the combine you are attempting has too many shelvings, it's fine to go ahead and try it. If it does not work due to the maintenance, you will see an error message.

We'll let you know when the maintenance is complete and these combines can again be completed. Sorry for the inconvenience!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Is this still disabled?

[David]

Is this maintenance also causing delays in deletion? I deleted three books some ten hours ago, waiting for recombination, and they are still there.

[Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager]

Sorry for the trouble with this! It does appear that some site maintenance may be causing delays in user merges, as well as book combine/separation, and deletions.

[David]

Any word on when this maintenance is expected to complete?

[Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager]

No update as of yet, sorry David. We'll be actively working on this and someone will post an update here as soon as we know more.

[Moloch]

This is still a problem: I clicked "delete" on a incorrect record with 0 shelvings hours ago, and it's still here

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Because we have a lot of database traffic currently, we do have much more of a backlog than usual. We are aware of the time deletes are taking, and have devs working to speed things up. But it looks like the fixes won't be in place until some time next week. In the meantime, while it is ok to attempt deletes and merges, please be aware that they will continue to take much longer than you are used to.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for keeping us updated (in this thread and elsewhere) on what you are seeing.

[Emy]

Thanks for that Rivka, I'll just keep an eye on my merge queue and try not to add to it until Monday then :)

[Clwseattle]

What's going on with the Stats link? My stats only go up to 2008! YIKES! Nothing from then till now. Yes I cleared my cache and cleaned my cookies...

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

Clwseattle wrote: "What's going on with the Stats link? My stats only go up to 2008! YIKES! Nothing from then till now. Yes I cleared my cache and cleaned my cookies..."

Unfortunately the Librarian's Group can't help you with any issues with site functionality. We are volunteers who do the book cataloging. Please go to the Feedback Group & look for the appropriate thread there. :)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I tried a delete yesterday, and have been waiting patiently. I'm not sure when I started the process, but I think about 20 hours ago and still waiting. In another thread was noted that due to length of the time this takes, I did add a librarian note that a merge was in process and not to combine.

[David]

I am now waiting 4 days on some deletions. I have a list of 20 waiting. My recommendation is to write down your deletions and add a librarian note to prevent combines.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

David wrote: "I am now waiting 4 days on some deletions. I have a list of 20 waiting. My recommendation is to write down your deletions and add a librarian note to prevent combines."

Thanks for the wait time - at least knowing helps! I don't do many deletions, so I have a tab open for that one.

[Lisa]

Someone just recombined about 90 editions I'd separated and were waiting to merge. Noticed when I was going back to add notes. Librarian is not accepting messages.

[lethe]

Lisa wrote: "Someone just recombined about 90 editions I'd separated and were waiting to merge. Noticed when I was going back to add notes. Librarian is not accepting messages."

Arrrgh, that is annoying! I feel your pain.

[David]

That is really annoying, though you can't blame them, they can't know you are in the middle.

[Cassandra]

I've been waiting on some to merge since Wednesday, and it's now Sunday. I think I'll go back and add a librarian note to prevent recombining- good idea!

[Lisa]

David wrote: "That is really annoying, though you can't blame them, they can't know you are in the middle."
No, I know. I don't.

[Eleanor]

I combined to instances of the same book and when I did, all my ratings and reviews disappeared! Is there any way to get them back?

[Abcdarian]

Eleanor wrote: "I combined to instances of the same book and when I did, all my ratings and reviews disappeared! Is there any way to get them back?"

That's most likely a caching issue which will resolve itself in a day or two.

[Emy]

David wrote: "I am now waiting 4 days on some deletions. I have a list of 20 waiting. My recommendation is to write down your deletions and add a librarian note to prevent combines."

Mine are all in Pocket, but the list is definitely growing exponentially :/ Having to avoid the merge thread completely!! :)

[rivka, Former Moderator]

The devs are still working on this, and some progress has been made. But we still have a substantial backlog. If you have a delete from the last several days that has not gone through, please do not attempt it again. The queue will continue to go through the backlog as quickly as it can, but if a delete is in the queue 3 times, it will be attempted 3 times -- even though it went through the first time. Which creates even more backlog.

We apologize for the delays, and appreciate your patience. We will update here when we have more information.

[Lisa]

A bunch of mine just went through.

[David]

Some of my six day old ones went through too, we are seeing (some) progress

[Emy]

I'm getting some going through in random orders, but some progress is good progress :) Thanks to the devs for their work!

[David]

David wrote: "Some of my six day old ones went through too, we are seeing (some) progress"
After the aforementioned short burst, no new deletions coming through. Delay is now around 8 days.

[Melanie]

One of my merges from Feb 09, 2017 just completed about 45 minutes ago. So merges are roughly 8 days behind it looks like.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Yay! My merge from the 10th finally went through!

[Emy]

Mine seem to be anything from 4 to 10 days backlogged. Hamsters need more cheese!

[Alex]

One of mine just went through, backlog seems to be at 10.5 days now. :(

[David]

Alex wrote: "One of mine just went through, backlog seems to be at 10.5 days now. :("

Confirmed, mine from Feb 11, 2017 05:58PM went through sometime in the last six hours. Another from Feb 12, 2017 11:06AM still lives (GMT+2).

[Melanie]

rivka wrote: "We are aware of the time deletes are taking, and have devs working to speed things up. But it looks like the fixes won't be in place until some time next week."

Is there any update on when this fix will be in place? Or is it in place already?

I have merges from 12 days ago still outstanding.

[Farhana]

I need these two editions to be combined. they are the same editions. please help!

1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

1 was added first by someone who left most of the details incomplete. I tried to edit it directly, but it is not allowing me to do so, strange because i have done this before as a Librarian. It was saying I could only edit the metadata.
But it has mistakes like the publication date and the format of the book, also there was no description. The book format mentioned here is "paperback", which is incorrect. there are no paperback editions. It should be "hardcover".

When I failed to edit the information, I had to create the new edition (2). But could not add the ISBN no. as it already exists with 1.

They are actually the same edition. No need to have two separate entries. Since 'combining' is off I need someone to help me with that.
Please help.

[lethe]

Farhana wrote: "I need these two editions to be combined. they are the same editions. please help!

1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

2. https://www.goodreads.co..."

As the topic title indicates, this is an announcement thread. Please post your request in the Book Issues folder.

Also, creating a new edition instead of requesting an edit to an existing edition is never a good idea. It creates a lot more work.

[Farhana]

lethe wrote:
thank you lethe. I will look for the correct thread on combining books, in the Book Issues folder.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Unfortunately, the fix we expected would speed things up significantly has not worked as well as we hoped. Our devs have come up with an additional fix, but it is more complex, and will take some time to implement. So the current state should be expected until a further update. (And we hate to say that about as much as you hate to hear it.)

Again, we apologize for the delays, and appreciate your patience. Keep watching this space for updates!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Thanks for the update, Rivka. Tell the developers thanks, too.

[David]

Thanks for the update. Though I must say that as a professional in this field, I'm quite worried. We are now at about 13 days delay (A queued delete on Feb 12, 2017 11:16AM didn't happen yet). Systems don't usually recuperate from such backlog naturally, or without injury.

[lethe]

David wrote: "Systems don't usually recuperate from such backlog naturally, or without injury."

Eep! That sounds ominous.

[lethe]

Would it be better if we stopped merging altogether for a bit? Would that help at all?

[Marcos]

Good idea. I've actually stopped sometime after the beginning of this situation. Better to wait until it is all right again. In the event that something is lost, we won't loose that much. And we don't get anxious waiting for the queue to move. :-)

[rivka, Former Moderator]

David wrote: "Systems don't usually recuperate from such backlog naturally, or without injury."

Which would be relevant if we were just expecting it to catch up by itself, without us making additional changes. That is not the case.


lethe wrote: "Would it be better if we stopped merging altogether for a bit? Would that help at all?"

I have been assured that it would not make a significant difference, which is why we have not made that suggestion -- or turned off the ability to queue more merges. As long as the items being queued are not repeats of already-queued items, it should not be a problem.

[R.L.]

Hi im not sure if this is where to post my question, but i noticed two entries for my book came up today. One with no cover and one rating under my book with the cover and rating. not sure what's happening but can it be fixed? Book: Crashing Into Me R.L Jackson

[Dobby]

R.L. wrote: "Hi im not sure if this is where to post my question, but i noticed two entries for my book came up today. One with no cover and one rating under my book with the cover and rating. not sure what's h..."

This is not the correct thread, but I fixed the problem. Next time, please start a new thread in the Book Issues folder

[R.L.]

I saw combining and assumed lol. My apologies and thank you so much.

[Alex]

I don't know how useful this is, but just posting to say, based on a merge I did that just went through, backlog is currently at about ~16.5 days.

[rachel, x]

Thanks, that is useful to now.

[Sandra]

Just a comment, on one of my requests that Alex kindly did - someone recombined it :(

He'd put a Librarian note - "Queued for Deletion" - so I'm not sure what went wrong there. I separated them again & added to his note - "Do not recombine" so hopefully when its time comes it goes through smoothly.

[Cassandra]

I've had to separate again 4 different titles that were recombined, despite librarian notes asking not to. I just keep checking them all...