Book editions are not merging my review of same book.

[Joy H.]

Would you please check to see why it is that my two reviews for the same book appear differently?

See my two reviews at the following links:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Shouldn't they look the same?

Also, both editions are listed on the same read-shelf in My Books.
Shouldn't only one show up?

[Sandra]

Joy, 2 copies show up because you added 2 copies - on Nov 21 2008 & Mar 13 2011. And presumably you wrote the reviews then also, so therefore 2.

You can delete one if you wish.

[Joy H.]

I see, Sandra. But how was I able to add two copies? Wouldn't I have seen, when I wanted to add the second copy, that my review was already there?

Also, if I delete one, and then someone (who had read that title) compares books with me (via the Goodreads "Compare books" application) will the title show up on the listing, no matter which edition it is?

[Deborah]

Joy H. wrote: "I see, Sandra. But how was I able to add two copies? Wouldn't I have seen, when I wanted to add the second copy, that my review was already there?

Also, if I delete one, and then someone (who had ..."

Lots of people add multiple editions on purpose, sometimes just to document re-reading a book. It depends on where you were when you added it and how hard you were looking if you would have noticed that you had already added it. It can be easy to add a second copy by mistake, that's why there is a find duplicates function - look on the my books page in the left-hand column below the shelf names.

Yes, compare treats all editions as one book, that's why we combine editions, so they will be treated as one book.

[Joy H.]

Deborah, I tried the "find duplicates" function at My Books and found 16 duplicates!!!

Some of them show different versions of my reviews. How do I reconcile that?

If I don't delete one of the duplicates, how will the GR system decide which version to show to readers?

Below is an example of one of the sets of duplicates I have. (As you can see, I must have realized the problem at one point and tried to remedy it by providing a link to the other version.)
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

What do you advise?

[Deborah]

Joy H. wrote: "Deborah, I tried the "find duplicates" function at My Books and found 16 duplicates!!!

Some of them show different versions of my reviews. How do I reconcile that?

If I don't delete one of the du..."

It is totally up to you. You don't have to delete anything, if you don't want to.

You can edit reviews to copy and paste anything from a review you want to delete to one you want to keep. If I were going to make a lot of changes at one time, I would copy all of the reviews to a document on my computer before I started deleting anything.

For the one you linked to, definitely keep the one with the long review, I don't see why you would need the other one. You can change the edition that your review is on, look for a link that says "switch to this edition" any place you are on an edition that is not the one you reviewed.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Joy H. wrote: "If I don't delete one of the duplicates, how will the GR system decide which version to show to readers?"

I believe it shows the oldest one.

[Joy H.]

Thank you very much, Deborah and Rivka!
I think I have enough information to go on now.
I'll keep tinkering. (g)

[Deborah]

Joy H. wrote: "Thank you very much, Deborah and Rivka!
I think I have enough information to go on now.
I'll keep tinkering. (g)"

Good Luck!

[Sandra]

I've several times seen more than one copy of a book on the compare books list. How the computer picks, I don't know.

[Joy H.]

Sandra wrote: "I've several times seen more than one copy of a book on the compare books list. How the computer picks, I don't know."

Maybe the compare function does recognize duplicates if both members have the same duplicates.