how about archive.org

[Frank]

How do you join the archive.org "edition" of a book to a current entry? Is there a policy regarding archive.org (whose scans, by the way, are usually far superior to those of Google Books, which integrates with goodread).

Take this book:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75...

Suppose your reading the pdf or kindle version of this:
http://www.archive.org/details/futili...
Do we add one entry and pretend you're reading the first American hardcover edition?
Or also add separate ebook entries for this?

[Ralph Gallagher]

I'd ask the same for Project Gutenberg books. Do we add separate ebook editions for these?

[Frank]

(And why doesn't this topic show up in my list of topics for Policies & Practices?)

[rivka, Former Moderator]

You can add an ebook edition manually if you like.

[Kara]

Ralph wrote: "I'd ask the same for Project Gutenberg books. Do we add separate ebook editions for these?"

Interesting question. I'm ambivalent when it comes to a "policy" perspective, because part of me says they aren't new editions, just a different way to access an edition. But that doesn't seem quite right, because in a way all ebooks fit that definition, yet we (rightly so, in my opinion) add separate editions for most of them (although that may be ISBN bias talking).

However, in practice I almost always add a separate edition for Project Gutenberg books. Most of the time, I've found that the edition on which the ebook is based isn't in the Goodreads database, because it's old and hasn't been manually added by anyone who actually has a copy. I don't want to manually add such physical editions, knowing nothing about its binding, page numbers, etc., so instead I just create an edition for the ebook and leave it at that.

Since archive.org offers scanned images of the physical pages, you get all that information about the edition even if it's not in the database yet. So you could, in theory, add it as a physical edition, then attach the ebook copy, and mention in your review that you read it on archive.org.

But I'm just philosophizing here on what constitutes an edition. As rivka said, you can add a separate edition if you like; I doubt anyone is going to look askance at you.

[Frank]

Okay, but... not to whine, but... I add this book manually. Then to combine with the existing ones, I click 'combine', and goodread can't find any equivalent. God knows why, apparently the algorithm for this isn't very good. And for some reason someone has given the original the title "Futility (New Directions Paperbook)", as though "New Directions Paperbook" belongs in the title area.
So I guess I have to correct that first, and then... &c &c. Sigh.
Okay, I do feel like whining.

[Frank]

My own mistake. I had added the author's name the European way: Surname, Christian Names. Instead of Christian Names Surname. This confuses the engines.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

It's not a question of "the European way" or not. It's a question of how GR is set up, and the field states quite clearly how names must be entered.

And yes, only books whose authors have been entered identically can be combined.