User talk:BillPatt

Kraang 01:25, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

"A Ray of Sunshine"
I'm holding your submission to change the author credit of this essay. Can you confirm that the author as credited on the title page of the work is "William D. Patterson" and not "Bill Patterson"? It is ISFDB policy to record credits exactly as they appear in the publication. We can always make it into a variant if the canonical name of the author differs from the credited author. Thanks. Mhhutchins 01:32, 6 December 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm trying to correct a mis-attribution. I am William D. Patterson.  That is my essay. When the Rocket Science entry was entered, the uploader used "Bill Patterson", which is a byline used by William H. Patterson, Jr (see http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?119673).  I am a complete newby here.  Since there is no way to 'create an author', as the FAQ says, I figured the best way would be to alter the author of the essay to my full name.  Once the author record is created, then I can ask a mod to change it back to "Bill Patterson" and do whatever magic is needed to make sure it links back to my author page.  I am also published in an anthology called "90 Minutes to Live", so this is not a singlular problem.  If I chose a bogus way to do this, feel free to trashcan the edit, but if you could help me fix this issue, I would really appreciate it.  BillPatt 02:25, 6 December 2012 (UTC)


 * There are two ways to add an author to the database: 1) a title record must be created that credits the author. This is usually done by adding a publication to the database that contains a title record credited to that author. 2) A variant of a title record can be created which credits the "canonical" name of the author, i.e. the name by which the author is commonly known. So going back to my original question: how exactly is the author of "A Ray of Sunshine" credited in the actual publication. If it is credited to "Bill Patterson" we have to leave the title record as is. But if your preferred name is "William D. Patterson", we can create a variant record which is credited to that name, and then we can make "Bill Patterson" into a pseudonym of "William D. Patterson". So once you've answered the question, I'll know how to proceed. BTW, it's not necessary to leave a message on the page of the person who has posted a message on your talk page. An editor has the option of being notified when changes are made to wiki pages which he has edited (there's a check box that allows this option.) I await your response. Here. Thanks. Mhhutchins


 * The publication lists my essay under my commonly used name, Bill Patterson. My real, give, make out the check to me nane is William D. Patterson.  Since William H and I both use "Bill Patterson", I don't want to step on his toes, especially since he has a lot more credits.  I have no problem with "Bill Patterson (1960-?)" if that works...I just want the credit to be correctly allocated for "A Ray of Sunshine".  I was also published in another anthology that does not appear in ISFDB, and I'll want to add it after this change.  I can perform primary verification on each publication as well.  I apologize for the addition to your talk page.  Feel free to delete it. BillPatt 04:55, 6 December 2012 (UTC)


 * No problem at all. Everything has been changed to conform to ISFDB standards. If you go to the publication record (Rocket Science), you'll see the essay credited to "William D. Patterson [as by Bill Patterson]". If the publication in which the other work appears is speculative fiction feel free to create a record for it, but be sure to enter the credits exactly as they are presented in the publication. If necessary, the title can be varianted to the canonical name (William D. Patterson). Thanks for contributing and welcome to the ISFDB. Mhhutchins 06:03, 6 December 2012 (UTC)