Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Policies & Practices
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Merging Author Profiles with a Name Variation
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Scott wrote: "Yes, John A. Smith would be fine."Okay, that's what I thought. So would you mind taking a look at this to make sure I've explained it correctly? The author is asking that the profiles be merged and the two names be combined in the way I mentioned above so that her new name is: First Name, MI, Last Name and all of her books are on that one profile.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
We have both requested it and have been told that's not possible since she published under both names, so I wanted to make sure I haven't misunderstood what's allowed. If it is, I'm really not sure where to go from here.
"Therese M. Caruana" should be acceptable . If she got that answer from support, I suggest she try again, and hope to get somebody different.
Scott wrote: ""Therese M. Caruana" should be acceptable . If she got that answer from support, I suggest she try again, and hope to get somebody different."That's the same thing I was thinking. I'll tell her to wait a few days and try again. Thanks for the confirmation! I thought I'd completely misunderstood the policy.
The thing is, people searching for T.M. Caruana won't find Therese M. Caruana, because the system reads it as tm caruana. People searching for T. M. Caruana (with a space between the initials) should find the full name.
lethe wrote: "The thing is, people searching for T.M. Caruana won't find Therese M. Caruana, because the system reads it as tm caruana. People searching for T. M. Caruana (with a space between the initials) shou..."Hmm, that's the first I've heard that. I always thought that the full name would be the "more complete" version and thus both would be found.
I just tested it with a random name John L. Monk and when I searched for both J.L. Monk and John Monk, I got a hit for John L. Monk. Isn't that the same? Or am I confusing myself. I've thought about this so much that that's entirely possible.
Yes, if there is only one initial. But with more than one initial it doesn't work like that, unless you put a space between the initials. The system doesn't recognize TM as being the same as Therese M.
lethe wrote: "Yes, if there is only one initial. But with more than one initial it doesn't work like that, unless you put a space between the initials. The system doesn't recognize TM as being the same as Theres..."Oh, I see. So if the person searching doesn't type the period after T, it won't come up.
It IS a revelation! I just checked and she's now publishing as T.M., so some might not find her if they search "TM." I get it now. Thank you, lethe. That makes sense.
No, the period doesn't matter. The system reads T.M. as TM .What matters is the space, so both T. M. and T M get the same results.
Nay wrote: "I just tested it with a random name John L. Monk and when I searched for both J.L. Monk and John Monk, I got a hit for John L. Monk. Isn't that the same? Or am I confusing myself. I've thought abou..."If I search for jl monk or j.l. monk I don't get any hits for that name.
If I search for j l monk I find John L. Monk.
Okay, got it now. Thanks again! This changes my entire thought process on profile merging.
Somehow I thought only GR-authors could request such merges and that staff had to do it. Am I wrong in this thinking?
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Somehow I thought only GR-authors could request such merges and that staff had to do it. Am I wrong in this thinking?"Nope, not wrong. I was helping an author.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Somehow I thought only GR-authors could request such merges and that staff had to do it. Am I wrong in this thinking?"No, in the case of GR Authors we have to respect their wishes. But non-GR Authors are not extended the same courtesy.
I recently saw that Matthew Lewis (of The Monk fame) was merged into Matthew Gregory Lewis, no doubt because some public-domain publishers use his full name, even though during his lifetime he was known as Matthew Lewis.
Another example is Mikhail E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Even though on reputable English editions his name is M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, he keeps being changed to the full name.
I have given up changing them back.
Public domain authors can't make requests anyway, so they wouldn't be part of the limitations. I just thought I remembered Rivka saying something about not merging non-GR authors (obviously living).As to Matthew Lewis, I don't know why we would use the full name when that wasn't how he published. The full name should be shown as secondary on those editions and the originally published name as primary on all editions.
Example where we definitely do NOT merge is Lucy Maud Montgomery who, in her lifetime, published as L.M. Montgomery. Another is F. Scott Fitzgerald which should be primary, where he is now sometimes published as Francis Scott Fitzgerald, which is secondary.
Nay wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Somehow I thought only GR-authors could request such merges and that staff had to do it. Am I wrong in this thinking?"Nope, not wrong. I was helping an author."
If I'm not wrong, then why are you merging?
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "As to Matthew Lewis, I don't know why we would use the full name when that wasn't how he published. The full name should be shown as secondary on those editions and the originally published name as primary on all editions."I know, and agree with all your examples. Yet people can't seem to leave the classic authors alone, and I got sick and tired of changing them back time and again, so I just stopped.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "If I'm not wrong, then why are you merging?."Because the author requested it, see msg #3.
lethe wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "If I'm not wrong, then why are you merging?."Because the author requested it, see msg #3."
OK. So the profiles will not be merged. I obviously didn't get it. LOL
And Edit: I did read Post #1, which applies also to my questions about not merging profiles for non-GR authors.
lethe wrote: "I know, and agree with all your examples. Yet people can't seem to leave the classic authors alone, and I got sick and tired of changing them back time and again, so I just stopped."
I know on those 2 profiles there are notes. Yeah, I know sometimes notes get ignored.
:-(
Scott wrote: "Yes, John A. Smith would be fine."Nay wrote: "I know that if an author publishes under J. Smith and then John Smith that the profiles can be merged under the name John Smith."
This is the place where my question applies. I thought we could not do this for non-GR authors.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Scott wrote: "Yes, John A. Smith would be fine."Nay wrote: "I know that if an author publishes under J. Smith and then John Smith that the profiles can be merged under the name John Smith."
This..."
The author I'm helping is a GR author. And she was prepared to claim her other profile if she needed to, but she didn't even get to that point. She was just told they couldn't be merged because they were "two different names," so I was trying to find out what the problem with merging her names is.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Scott wrote: "Yes, John A. Smith would be fine."Nay wrote: "I know that if an author publishes under J. Smith and then John Smith that the profiles can be merged under the name John Smith."
This..."
Sorry, I may have misread what you're asking. I was just using John Smith and J.A. Smith as "made up" names as an example.
Nay wrote: "Sorry, I may have misread what you're asking. I was just using John Smith and J.A. Smith as "made up" names as an example."I understood that, and I'm sure you didn't understand what I was saying.
My understanding is that we don't merge non-GR authors who are still living.
I know that if an author publishes under J. Smith and then John Smith that the profiles can be merged under the name John Smith. But what if the author publishes under J.A. Smith and John Smith--can the profiles be merged under a combined name of John A. Smith so that both J.A. Smith and John Smith books would be on it?
Thanks!