Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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Misfit
Book & Author Page Issues
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"Catalog guidelines" problem
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by
Werner
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Mar 14, 2025 05:17AM
The database entry for Misfit by Amanda Goff (ISBN: 1760688614 ) has this notation: "This item does not meet our catalog guidelines and can no longer be rated or reviewed. Learn More." But none of the stated possible reasons for that status listed at "Learn More" appear to apply to this book.
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This does not require a superlibrarian. Please move your request or repost it to the "Book & Author Page Issues" folder.
Looks like you have taken care of this yourself, though you should not be editing other authors' books.
Scott wrote: "Looks like you have taken care of this yourself, though you should not be editing other authors' books."I wasn't the one who took care of it (I didn't know how, and didn't see an option for it, which is why I thought it might be a superlibrarian issue), but someone did. Since the issue is solved, I've moved this thread to the Archives folder, but if I should simply delete it instead, I can do that too.
Scott wrote: "Looks like you have taken care of this yourself, though you should not be editing other authors' books.I suppose the edit log could be wrong."
It probably isn't wrong, if it shows that I changed "GOFF AMANDA" to "Amanda Goff" (to conform to the standard way the database shows author's names) and capitalized the U in the title, which was lower case before. (I'd noticed those typos when a friend of mine reviewed the book, which is why I'd brought up the edit function in the first place.) If I understand correctly, only Goodreads Authors can edit their books (and the program won't allow a librarian to do so). Ms. Goff, however, isn't a Goodreads author. (If that policy has changed since the last time I read it, maybe one of the mods can clarify that.)
Those are the only two edits I made; but I did encounter an odd anomaly, which may or may not have anything to do with this. The first time I clicked "Save changes," I got a pop-up box I'd never seen before, with words to the effect of "Are you sure this record should be public?" Since I hadn't done anything to that part of the record, or even looked at it, I clicked "Cancel," and then checked that box. It showed as "Public" to start with, so I thought it was safest to leave it that way. After re-doing my two edits, I clicked "Save changes" again, and once again got the pop-up box. I clicked "Save" that time, and then reported the issue of the "This item does not meet our catalog guidelines and can no longer be rated or reviewed. Learn More" notation (which was still in place at that time) to this group.
Again, that anomaly may have nothing to do with this issue or its mysterious correction. If I understand correctly, the notice just indicates that an item isn't an actual book as Goodreads defines one. The Public vs. Private status, on the other hand, just lets an author make the records for some books private (and as a Goodreads author, I've done that with a couple of mine). But the two things don't seem to be obviously related.
In another anomaly, I can't check the edit log; when I tried to a few minutes ago, clicking on the book record logged me out of the Goodreads site, twice. Just now, I've reported all of these circumstances to Goodreads Support, and will update this group here about anything I learn from them.
David, since this issue may not be as resolved as I thought, I'm taking your suggestion and moving it to the "Book & Author Page Issues" folder. Thanks!
Sometimes books have the warning even though they are set to public, and yes, simply clicking save will restore the public status for real. It may still take some time foe the warning to go away. That's probably what happened.
Goodreads Support sent a short reply, which basically figured out the situation with the notice the same way Scott already did. Also, whatever glitch kept logging me off of Goodreads whenever I clicked on the book record has been corrected. So, all's well and resolved!Moderators, should I now archive this thread, delete it, or just leave it as is?
