ISFDB:Moderator noticeboard
From ISFDB
| ISFDB Noticeboards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before posting to this page, consider whether one of the other noticeboards might suit your needs better. | ||||
| Help desk Questions about doing a specific task, or how to correct information when the solution is not immediately obvious. • New post • Archives | Verification requests Help with bibliographic, image credit, and other questions which require a physical check of the work in question. • New post • Archives | Rules and standards Discussions about the rules and standards, as well as questions about interpretation and application of those rules. • New post • Rules changelog • Archives | Community Portal General discussion about anything not covered by the more specialized noticeboards to the left. • New post • Archives | Moderator noticeboard Get the attention of moderators regarding submission questions. • New post • Archives • Cancel submission |
Archive Quick Links
Archives of old discussions from the Moderator noticeboard.
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21
| Moderator | Current Availability | Time Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Ahasuerus – Talk | Daily. Mostly working on automated submissions and the software. | US Eastern (UTC-5) |
| Steve Fernie: Albinoflea - Talk | Typically late afternoon or late evenings. | US Eastern (UTC-4) |
| Annie Yotova: Annie - Talk | Most days, at all kinds of hours. | US Mountain/AZ (UTC-7) |
| Bill: Bluesman - Talk | Now retired, so more time; still going to be intermittent. | CDN Mountain (UTC-7) |
| Darrah Chavey: Chavey - Talk | Usually a quick visit during the week; a few hours on Saturday. | US Central (UTC-6) |
| Chris Jensen: Chris J - Talk | Available sometime everyday. | Pacific (UTC+12) |
| J. Clark: Clarkmci - Talk | Intermittent. Most likely day-time (Australian time) Mon. - Fri. | Pacific (UTC+10) |
| Desmond Warzel: Dwarzel - Talk | Most days, wildly varying hours. | US Eastern (UTC-5) |
| Hauck - Talk | One hour a day. Can help on french titles. | France (UTC+1) |
| JLaTondre - Talk | Intermittent, mainly evenings. | US Eastern (UTC-5) |
| Kevin Pulliam: Kpulliam - Talk | Often missing for weeks and months - Best to email | US Central (UTC-6) |
| Kraang - Talk | Most evenings | CDN Eastern (UTC-5) |
| Dominique Fournier: Linguist - Talk | Off and on most days, with occasional blackouts; can help on French or other outlandish titles. | France (UTC+1) |
| Marc Kupper: Marc Kupper – Talk | Low but not quite zero | US Pacific (UTC-8) |
| MartyD - Talk | Most days, but sporadic. | US Eastern (UTC-5) |
| Mhhutchins - Talk | Self-moderating only | US Eastern (UTC-5) |
| Pete Young: PeteYoung - Talk | Most days, although time zone frequently varies. | Thailand (UTC+7) |
| Ron Kihara: Rkihara - Talk | Sporadic, need to catch up with my chores. | US Pacific (UTC-8) |
| Ron Maas Rtrace - Talk | Most mornings and evenings. | US Eastern (UTC-5) |
| Rudolf: Rudam - Talk | Most evenings and weekend. | Germany (UTC+2) |
| Christian Steinbacher: Stonecreek - Talk | On a longer vacation from 2017-07-15 on. | Germany (UTC+2) |
| Tpi - Talk | Intermittent, mostly evenings. | EET (UTC+2) |
| Willem Hettinga: Willem H. - Talk | Most evenings | Netherlands (UTC+2) |
- Currently unavailable
- Andrea Giordano: Pips55 - Talk - Not seen since 2013-12-07 (marked inactive). Italy (UTC+1)
- Al von Ruff: Alvonruff - Talk - Not seen since 2014-08-24. updating docs, then looking at code, but not performing any data updates.
- Swfritter - Talk - Not seen since 2015-08-05 (marked inactive). US Pacific (UTC-8)
- Dana Carson: Dcarson - Talk - Not seen since 2016-09-11 (marked inactive). US Eastern (UTC-5)
Publishers to merge, 2017-05-01
Both The Feminist Press and The Feminist Press at CUNY refer to the entity whose full name is "The Feminist Press at the City University of New York". I think they could be unified under the shorter form because I don't believe there's another Feminist Press. --Vasha 04:35, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
- Done. Hauck 06:37, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
Canonical name change: Arlan Andrews, Sr.
Arlan Andrews has more publications by "Arlan Andrews, Sr." now. --Vasha 14:57, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
- The note for Andrews reads like a PR blurb. Maybe it should be toned down?--Rkihara 15:19, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
- I did actually submit a change removing those encomiums! Will whoever posted them try to change it back, though? --Vasha 19:09, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
author name correction, 2017-05-01
Seamus Sweeney should be Séamus Sweeney. Vasha 19:44, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
- And another: D. J. Tyrer should be DJ Tyrer. I have checked just about all of those publications! --Vasha 04:10, 7 May 2017 (UTC)
- Done. Hauck 06:36, 7 May 2017 (UTC)
Canonical name change: Peter Rawlik
The majority of Peter Rawlik's fiction is credited to "Pete Rawlik". --Vasha 19:02, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
Publishers to merge, 2017-05-11
Unsung Stories / Red Squirrel and Unsung Stories. I don't think there's any reason to have the parent company of the imprint listed. --Vasha 23:07, 11 May 2017 (UTC)
- Done (merged to the simpler one, IIUC). Hauck 07:16, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
Please ignore these Japanese titles
On Japanese Titles with Latin characters, please ignore the following:
- 狼と香辛料 (18) Spring Log
- Elements
- Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 3
- Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 4
- SFアトランダム(1)—FORRY・4Eのことども—
- Done (1 left). Hauck 07:20, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
On Japanese Titles with a Latin Author Name, please ignore:
- All entries with an author of "Toi8".
- Done. Hauck 07:24, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
On Publication Series with Latin Names and Non-Latin Titles, please ignore:
- Dragon Magazine Special
- Novaコレクション
- Done. Hauck 07:27, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
Thanks! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 23:14, 11 May 2017 (UTC)
Publisher name to correct 2017-05-13
Hellbound Books should be HellBound Books. --Vasha 20:38, 14 May 2017 (UTC)
- Fixed. Albinoflea 20:42, 14 May 2017 (UTC)
Baen Webscription ebooks
Baen Books has been selling eBooks on their web site. They don't use ISBNs but instead have "SKU" numbers. Unfortunately, people have been adding publication records to ISFDB and using the Baen SKU numbers in the ISBN field without prefixing them with #.
Apparently manufacturers are allowed to invent their own SKU numbers. SKU numbers are not regulated nor standardized. The good news for Baen is unlike ISBNs they don't need to pay someone for each number used. Unfortunately, Baen seems to be using SKU's that are the same as ISBNs for earlier editions of a title. They are also using numbers previously used by other publishers such as Ace, DAW, etc. See A.+Bertram+Chandler for an example of their titles.
I have no idea why but one or more people are also converting Baen SKU numbers into ISBN13s prior to adding them to ISFDB. For example, a search for ISBNs starting with 9780879 includes:
| Matilda's Step Children | 2007-12-00 | A. Bertram Chandler | Baen | 978-0-87997-845-7 | $4.00 | ebook | websubscription | SKU 0879978457 |
| Star Courier | 2007-12-00 | A. Bertram Chandler | Baen | 978-0-87997-834-1 | $4.00 | ebook | websubscription | SKU 0879972920 |
| The Anarch Lords | 2007-12-00 | A. Bertram Chandler | Baen | 978-0-87997-653-8 | $4.00 | ebook | websubscription | SKU 0879976535 |
| The Big Black Mark | 2007-06-00 | A. Bertram Chandler | Baen | 978-0-87997-726-9 | $4.00 | ebook | websubscription | SKU 0879977264 |
| The Last Amazon | date unknown | A. Bertram Chandler | Baen | 978-0-87997-936-2 | $4.00 | ebook | websubscription | SKU 0879979364 |
| The Way Back | 2007-12-00 | A. Bertram Chandler | Baen | 978-0-87997-352-0 | $4.00 | ebook | websubscription | SKU 0879973528 |
| To Keep the Ship | 2007-12-00 | A. Bertram Chandler | Baen | 978-0-87997-827-3 | $4.00 | ebook | websubscription | SKU 0879978279 |
All of those were originally DAW books ISBN10s (published in the 1970s and 1980s). The link in the title column is to ISFDB's pub record for the Baen Books eBook edition.
This note is a heads up that:
- Ideally people adding these also link to the source on Baen's web site.
- That as it's an SKU and not an ISBN that the number be prefixed with # in the ISBN/Catalog # field. It's Baen's catalog number.
- That people should not be converting SKU numbers into ISBN13 values.
--Marc Kupper|talk 23:45, 16 May 2017 (UTC)
Errol Le Cain
There is one work in the database by Errol LeCain, COVERART T1007122 primary verified transient by User:BLongley who is bannered no longer active with us.
I submitted TitleUpdate to change the name [1], following Wikipedia Wikipedia, LCCN n79-061362, LC and WorldCat library records for one new collection in the queue [2] (with illustrator credit as "Errol LeCain", which I'll fix later).
(BLongley's record does not give a source for the cover artist credit.)
--Pwendt|talk 00:46, 18 May 2017 (UTC)
- That seems like the correct thing to do. Chavey 04:45, 20 May 2017 (UTC)
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
I think that our "Vintage Crime / Black Lizard" publisher names should be changed to "Vintage Crime/Black Lizard"; this is how the name of the imprint appears in books, and it is not an imprint and its parent, the way that " / " is usually used here. Currently we have Vintage Crime / Black Lizard / Vintage Books, Vintage Crime / Black Lizard / SFBC, and Vintage Crime/Black Lizard / SFBC.
: Thanks for doing this. --Vasha 18:02, 10 June 2017 (UTC)
Author names to correct, 2017-04-21
James Robinson Planche to James Robinson Planché, and J. R. Planche to J. R. Planché. Thanks! --Vasha 00:40, 19 May 2017 (UTC)
Publisher Haikasoru
Can someone merge Haikasoru and Haikasoru / Viz Media. If I am reading the rules correctly, we should use the impring / parent name although either way works for me. Thanks!Annie 03:56, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
- That could get tricky. The problem is we have 20 verified pubs under Haikasoru scattered over several years. I'd want to be certain that Haikasoru was never a standalone company. For example MM9 (2012) is for the tp edition. There's an Amazon Look Inside of the Kindle edition which has "Haika" over "soru" on the title page. The copyright page has that Haikasoru is published by VIZ Media. I'd want to check all 20 verified pubs before making the change.
- Also, should it be "Haikasoru / VIZ Media" rather than "Haikasoru / Viz Media"? The company seems to use VIZ though https://www.viz.com/company-about does not explain how the name came about. --Marc Kupper|talk 08:42, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- They were officially launched in 2009 as a series that grew into an imprint. So all of the books under both publishers above had always been in the imprint. Not sure about the VIZ/Viz. Never existed as a separate publisher. Annie 10:02, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- PS: I do not mind defaulting on the shorter one (everyone but one PV seemed to prefer that) but then what is the point of our rules about the imprints :) So what is next - get all the PVs together and try to find out what is preferred? Annie 18:09, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- When I verified MM9 I accepted the default at the time which was for "Haikasoru", although the copyright page does add "Published by VIZ Media, LLC". I'm not troubled either way which one we adopt, but I do think they should all be under one name. At the moment we use "Haikasoru" mostly for the tp editions and "Haikasoru / Viz Media" predominantly for the ebook editions (similar to the way we split "Gollancz" and "Gollancz / Orion" for their SF Masterworks publications). Also, I think it should be "VIZ" as opposed to "Viz" – their Wikipedia page uses both but the company's website (e.g. their 'About' page) predominantly uses VIZ. My two cents. PeteYoung 22:26, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- "VIZ" isn't an acronym, though, and we tend to normalize other capitalization. Tor uses "TOR" a lot, but we don't use the all caps version. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 22:44, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- The reason I asked is because I ended up with one of the books in my hands and decided to clear this up before I verify it (so I can verify with the correct publisher) :) Thanks for chiming in! Annie 22:30, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- They have never been separate companies. Haikasoru is actually not a company. It's not surprising that Viz doesn't have any separate entries since they publish mostly manga and anime, neither of which we include here. Haikasoru is their imprint for novels. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 22:44, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
Cover artist for Super Science Novels Magazine, May 1941
This verified publication (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?60764) has Morey listed as cover artist. The artist is not credited in the magazine, but the cover has a clear signature "Gabriel H Mayorga" on the artwork. I'd like to change the attribution for the cover to "Gabriel Mayorga." Thanks, Ldb001 00:38, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
canonical name change : L. S. Silverthorne
Time to change L. S. Silverthorne to Lisa Silverthorne. --Vasha 02:52, 10 June 2017 (UTC)
Change note in Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis category
Can someone please change the note of the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis category Beste Grafik einer deutschsprachigen Ausgabe to:
Best artwork first published in a German-language publication. Artwork which has been published in a non-German publication before the German publication is not eligible for a nomination. Superseded "Bester Grafiker" in 1993.
Thanks, Jens Hitspacebar 18:11, 11 June 2017 (UTC)
- Done. Hauck 18:22, 11 June 2017 (UTC)
New Moderator nomination
(Moved to the Community Portal as per the standard process. Ahasuerus 14:57, 18 June 2017 (UTC))
Publisher name merges and edits
We have records for both Pyr and Pyr / Prometheus. I see no reason to list the parent company of this imprint (there was never a time when it was different), so please merge these as "Pyr". Thanks --Vasha 12:11, 21 June 2017 (EDT)
- Also, per discussion, please merge Apex Book Company into Apex Publications, keeping Publications. --Vasha 07:05, 22 June 2017 (EDT)
- Done! Stonecreek 06:46, 1 July 2017 (EDT)
Typos
I submitted the contents for Analog Science Fiction and Fact the July-August 2017 issue, and like a total idiot I misspelled Don Sakers name. If accepted, I will then correct this idiocy. Sorry. MLB 00:26, 25 June 2017 (EDT)
- Accepted and fixed after that. :) Annie 01:14, 25 June 2017 (EDT)
Fleetway / Sexton Blake Library
Among five books, this publisher has two Publisher pages: Fleetway Publications / Sexton Blake Library and Sexton Blake Library. One of the books under the first of those has Sexton Blake Library as the Publication Series, so it's entered as "Fleetway Publications / Sexton Blake Library (Sexton Blake Library #458)."
I would suggest the two Publisher pages should be merged as simply "Fleetway Publications," since (as with digest series in other countries) "Sexton Blake Library" is indeed the Publication Series and not an imprint or publisher. Fleetway is named on the covers. If a moderator can change those Publisher pages, I'll add the Publication Series to the individual books that need it (none are Primary Verified). MOHearn 13:47, 30 June 2017 (EDT)
- None of those are verified and from what I can find, I agree with your analysis. Let's give everyone a few more days for objections (due to the long holiday weekend in the USA) and I will proceed and get them sorted out. I will also ping the secondary verifier to see if he has a reason to keep them that way (some of the verifications are not in online sources so I cannot check and I would rather ask) :) Annie 23:59, 4 July 2017 (EDT)
- Currey lists the publisher a couple of ways: Sexton Blake Library Fleetway Publications Ltd for the Moorcock title and just Fleetway Publications Ltd for the Tubb one. If they were lesser known I doubt the series/publisher would even be on here. None of the books are anything but mysteries. At the very least they should be non-genre. No preferences here. --~ Bill, Bluesman 14:41, 6 July 2017 (EDT)
- If they are mysteries, should we just nuke them from the DB and solve the issue that way? Or are those in the "above threshold" case? If they are, I can certainly add the non-genre flag while reworking the publishers... Annie 15:38, 6 July 2017 (EDT)
- Currey lists the publisher a couple of ways: Sexton Blake Library Fleetway Publications Ltd for the Moorcock title and just Fleetway Publications Ltd for the Tubb one. If they were lesser known I doubt the series/publisher would even be on here. None of the books are anything but mysteries. At the very least they should be non-genre. No preferences here. --~ Bill, Bluesman 14:41, 6 July 2017 (EDT)
- Thanks! In they stay then with no flags (for now). I will rework the publisher and the publisher series to get them all together then based on MOHearn's proposal. Annie 15:45, 6 July 2017 (EDT)
Sorry multiple pages in discussion
i created multiples of same query -- could you please remove the additonals? Thnaks —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Akua (talk • contribs) . on 23:10, 4 July 2017 (EDT)
- Done and no worries.
- PS: If you want to sign your messages, you can just add ~~~~ (that is 4 times the symbol ~ at the end of your messages. Welcome again :) Annie 23:33, 4 July 2017 (EDT)
Extending of input mask
Hello, can we (you) extend the input mask by several fields? E. g. "Translator", "Printing", "Edition", "Weight", "Dimensions". These data can I read often in the notes, but this is confusing. This would be better and more structured. Thanks. --Wolfram.winkler 03:46, 12 July 2017 (EDT)
- There are plans to add more fields staring with catalog IDs and improved ISBN/price support. However, it's an involved process and will take time to implement. Ahasuerus 11:46, 12 July 2017 (EDT)
- Hello Ahasuerus, please hurry up. --Wolfram.winkler 05:22, 13 July 2017 (EDT)
- Alas, there are many competing priorities. I have installed 284 patches this year, but there are only so many hours in a day... Ahasuerus 09:26, 13 July 2017 (EDT)
- Please do NOT hurry up. I would much rather see careful, accurate progress. Chavey 05:54, 16 July 2017 (EDT)
ISBN-ASIN reconciliation: Part 1
Now that:
- our software supports third party ISBNs, and
- the vast majority of ASINs has been migrated to the new field
we can start reconciling ISBNs and ASINs.
As most of you probably know, Amazon typically doesn't display ISBNs for e-pubs. However, they are available via Amazon's back end API which Fixer has access to.
Fixer has identified 578 publications which:
- have an ASIN external ID
- do not have an ISBN in the publication record
- have a matching ISBN in Fixer's database
I have tweaked Fixer's software to create 578 submissions to assign ISBNs to our ISBN-less pubs. You can see the first one here. It's currently on hold pending moderator feedback. If everything looks OK (including Note to Moderator), I will proceed with creating the other 577 submissions, probably in batches of 50 or so. Ahasuerus 20:20, 19 July 2017 (EDT)
- When adding an ISBN to a pub, does the duplicate ISBN warning logic occur? -- JLaTondre (talk) 20:53, 19 July 2017 (EDT)
- Yes, the submission display software will perform the normal checks, including the check for duplicate ISBNs. Ahasuerus 21:10, 19 July 2017 (EDT)
- If so, the "Once approved, please check for possible duplicate publications" could be changed to state need to investigate if the warning is present. -- JLaTondre (talk) 20:53, 19 July 2017 (EDT)
- Upon reflection, I should probably check for pre-existing duplicate ISBNs at submission creation time. It won't be completely bulletproof since Fixer's database is at least a few hours behind the main database, but it will make the approval process more straightforward. Also, I guess it's possible to have multiple ISBN-less publication records for the same e-book (from Amazon, B&N, etc.) It may be better to keep the moderator note sufficiently vague to account for various permutations. Ahasuerus 21:15, 19 July 2017 (EDT)
- Should a pub note be added stating the ISBN source is per Amazon? In this example, the data is per Barnes & Noble. However, searching that ISBN on their site returns no results. -- JLaTondre (talk) 20:53, 19 July 2017 (EDT)
- That's a good point, but I am not sure how much I can do at submission creation time. It's easy enough to create a submission to add a missing field value to a pub record. However, editing an existing field (in this case the Note field) is tricky because the value may have changed since Fixer's database was created. If that happens, it may overwrite previously entered data. Ahasuerus 21:19, 19 July 2017 (EDT)
- I don't mind having to edit the note. The cases where that will be "necessary" (term used loosely) I'd think would be few. I wonder how many are not Amazon-sourced Fixer submissions in the first place, with an Amazon credit already in the notes. Maybe you could search the notes string Fixer has for Amazon and word the note to the moderator differently? --MartyD 21:25, 20 July 2017 (EDT)
- An excellent idea! Ahasuerus 22:56, 20 July 2017 (EDT)
Publishers to merge, 2017-07-22
Please merge Kristell Ink into Kristell Ink / Grimbold Books (keeping the latter). Thanks --Vasha 19:26, 22 July 2017 (EDT)

