Anne > Status Update

Thanks for letting us know, Anne!

We need everyone who is unhappy with this to PLEASE submit their opinion to the Contact Support Page. The person who is making the changes won't stop until someone in an official Goodreads capacity tells them to.

https://www.goodreads.com/about/conta...

What is going on?

There is someone on Goodreads who is changing all of the names of comic books at an alarming rate. They are under the impression that this is their (unpaid) job because they think it is how Goodreads wants it.
So.
Instead of a comic having a name that we all recognize and know how to search for? Example Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (The New 52) <--which is how this book is listed on almost every other website on the planet, including Amazon, they have changed the name to The Court of Owls.

Omg that is ridiculous!! Sending complaint in now.

As a librarian I could drive them crazy and go back in and start changing them back… ;)

I sent a complaint a couple weeks ago, and they just said that the way goodreads titles there books are different than most other book sellers and sites.

This just makes no sense. Amazon bought Goodreads as a portal to sell books/trades and get reviews. Changing the name from the actual book title makes it harder to sell copies and means Amazon does not make any money. It seems like there should be some failsafe in place to stop this.

I sent in a complaint

Tym wrote: "I sent in a complaint"

Thanks, Tym.

Ronald wrote: "This just makes no sense. Amazon bought Goodreads as a portal to sell books/trades and get reviews. Changing the name from the actual book title makes it harder to sell copies and means Amazon does..."

I know. This isn't a good way to do business.

Corey wrote: "I sent a complaint a couple weeks ago, and they just said that the way goodreads titles there books are different than most other book sellers and sites."

Yeah, that's their story, but it's not actually true. The handbook makes exceptions to their rule for graphic novels. The head librarian shut down that discussion thread and everyone assumed it was over. Unfortunately, there is still someone changing titles and they have said that they won't stop until the head librarian actually TELLS them to stop. But I have no idea if the head librarian is even aware they're still doing this, and probably won't until enough people complain.

Thanks for letting us know Anne. That’s a bit of a silly decision.

Papasmurfiiiviii wrote: "Thanks for letting us know Anne. That’s a bit of a silly decision."

Pass the word on in a update or to any friends that you know on here that read comics. We need help!

This is absurd! I'd never find my comics or manga by the subtitle only. Thanks for letting me know, Anne.

No problem. We're working really hard on a solution and may need everyone to step up and say something.

Mel (Epic Reading) wrote: "Omg that is ridiculous!! Sending complaint in now.

As a librarian I could drive them crazy and go back in and start changing them back… ;)"

Mel, thank you! I don't want you to get in any trouble, though. What we may need is to get a petition or something going and then contact actual people who work for Goodreads in a paid capacity.

I submitted to Contact Support page. Got an e-mail from someone named Veronica who didn't SEEM to be aware of any issue.

Seriously? Poor Veronica.
Be a nuisance when you see a title that looks funky, we're working on getting some attention and shining a light on the problem.

that is awful. who do we contact?

i sent in a complaint and post a general update on my GR. hmmmm might post it in my facebook groups.

Yes! Please post this anywhere you can that you think may get attention. I'm already running into problems trying to figure out if I have the right volume of something listed as currently reading because they are also replacing vol 1 with #1. And if you read comics, you KNOW that #1 means issue #1, NOT volume 1.
I know what I'm doing, and I'm still getting confused. For anyone who is new to graphic novels, this will be a nightmare.

Anne wrote: "Yes! Please post this anywhere you can that you think may get attention. I'm already running into problems trying to figure out if I have the right volume of something listed as currently reading b..."

i posted it in my fb groups. one member said somebody is doing the same thing on other online book review sites. i wonder if it is the same person?

WHAT? That's insane. Can you find out the name of the person doing it on other book sites and message me?

Yesterday's response.

Hi Pete,

Thanks for bringing these to our attention. I've checked and it seems like the book titles you've mentioned is considered correct as per our site and librarian manual. On Goodreads, we manage our data differently than many online booksellers, including Amazon, and for consistency all titles need to be listed a certain way. In cases like this where the title of the book is also the name of the series we use the subtitle in the title field, and the series name will only appear once in the series field to avoid repetition.

Pete wrote: "Yesterday's response.

Hi Pete,

Thanks for bringing these to our attention. I've checked and it seems like the book titles you've mentioned is considered correct as per our site and librarian manu..."


that's such a lie. they totally use the same titles as Amazon and other sites. have for decades.

Anne wrote: "WHAT? That's insane. Can you find out the name of the person doing it on other book sites and message me?"

i will ask if they know!

Pete wrote: "Yesterday's response.

Hi Pete,

Thanks for bringing these to our attention. I've checked and it seems like the book titles you've mentioned is considered correct as per our site and librarian manu..."

It's such a smug asshole response to a MASSIVE issue that's coming down the pike. I can only tell I'm reading the correct volume on certain things now by clicking the Amazon link and checking to see if it's actually the volume I need. Sure, there are workarounds for their stupidity, but I really shouldn't have to take 15 steps to make sure I'm logging the correct book. And I'm usually reading digitally, so I don't have the ISBN # sitting next to me.

Kay Dee wrote: "Anne wrote: "WHAT? That's insane. Can you find out the name of the person doing it on other book sites and message me?"

i will ask if they know!"

It can't possibly be the same person. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

Well at least you guys are getting responses lol.

Corey wrote: "Well at least you guys are getting responses lol."

I was responded to via e-mail, not in this site, if that's what you were expecting...

Well I eventually got a response. I think it took a while since I already sent a sent a thing to them. Thanks for trying to help though, Pete. Anyways, here is the response I got:
Hi Corey,

Thanks for writing in. On Goodreads, we manage our data differently than many online booksellers, including Amazon and for consistency all titles need to be listed a certain way. In cases like this where the title of the book is also the name of the series we use the subtitle in the title field, and the series name will only appear once in the series field to avoid repetition. You can read all about how we list our data in the Librarian Manual here.

That said, I have passed your feedback about how comics are listed on the site to the relevant team.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know.

There are several of us trying our hardest to get this thing fixed by contacting the correct people in charge. Every time you ding customer support with another 'wrong title', it helps our numbers out.
It's not the response from GR support that we care about at all. They will only respond one way right now. It's a numbers game to get them to realize we can't look up comics this way if they keep going.

Once the # symbol gets too diluted due to misuse with volumes, we're going to have a monster of a problem on our hands. I read a lot of single issues, especially when I'm not sure if I want to commit to something, OR when I'm pawing through old comics and want to read the introduction of a specific character who appears in the middle of another character's series.
It was hard enough before we had this nonsense popping up all over the site.

Do we have an update on this situation? I know it was (for me) 26 days since this comment thread has had a new comment on it.