User talk:BungalowBarbara

Note: I get most of my books through the local library system, which is why many of my verifications are "Primary (transient)." If you have a question about one of these, please go ahead and ask. I can always check the book out again, if the library still has it.

Welcome!
Hello,, and welcome to the ISFDB Wiki! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:
 * Help pages
 * Help:Getting Started
 * What the ISFDB Wiki is for
 * FAQ
 * Wiki editing help - Tips on how to use the wiki-specific features when editing wiki pages.
 * Wiki Conventions - How things are usually done on this wiki.
 * Help:How to upload images to the ISFDB wiki

Note: Image uploading isn't entirely automated. You're uploading the files to the wiki which will then have to be linked to the database by editing the publication record.

Please be careful in editing publications that have been primary verified by other editors. See Help:How to verify data. But if you have a copy of an unverified publication, verifying it can be quite helpful. See Help:How to verify data for detailed information.

I hope you enjoy editing here! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will insert your name and the date. If you need help, check out the community portal, or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! --MartyD 11:19, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Sourcing data
All submissions to update records must be sourced. You should provide us with the source for the data you're adding or correcting. If you are working from a copy of the book, you should notify us of that fact in the "Note to Moderator" field. If you are not working from a book-in-hand, you should give the secondary source for your data in the "Note" field of the submission. Your contributions to the database are appreciated, but in order to maintain the integrity of the database, it is important that users believe that every effort has been made to ensure the data is as accurate as it can possibly be. I very much appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Mhhutchins 14:57, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Working with series
I removed the title series data that you gave in the publication series field of this publication. Keep in mind that a title series can only be added to a title record and not a publication record, so if you're entering a new title into the database, you have to wait until the submission has been accepted. After that, you can update the autogenerated title record to add the title series and any applicable number in the series. For more instructions on how to handle series go here. For a list of links to the most common ISFDB editing tasks go here. (It would be a good idea to bookmark this latter page.) Thanks for contributing. Mhhutchins 15:14, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Jane Yolen's The Fairies' Ring
A question about this publication: Are the titles that you've given for the contents exactly as they appear on each of their title pages? (We don't use the table of contents page to create ISFDB records.)

Also, one more trivial matter: when entering a publication's stated LCCN, it's best to enter it in the format "LCCN: XXXXXXX". This will help if sometime in the future we decide to create a separate field for the number; we could do a universal change without having to update each record manually. It also makes it easier for users do a search of the note field for LCCNs. Even if the publication doesn't use the abbreviation "LCCN" that's how it should be entered into the note field. Some books give it in various permutations: "LCC", "LCN", "Library of Congress Catalog Number", "Library of Congress Control Number", etc. Regularizing it to "LCCN: " (followed by the number) is the current standard. Thanks for contributing. Mhhutchins 23:00, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm holding the submission to make this record into a variant until it's confirmed that the longer title is used on the story's title page. Mhhutchins 00:09, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Author data edits
When updating or adding new author data, the legal name filed should be in the format: LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME MIDDLENAME. Thanks. Mhhutchins 01:03, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Updating titles
Just a heads up: you can change the dates of all those poems in one submission by updating the publication record. Only those that are included in other pubs can't be edited (you'll see they've been greyed out to prevent your from editing them.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 03:09, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Reply: Thank you for all your help and useful tips. BungalowBarbara 03:31, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Map in The Sookie Stackhouse Companion
Hi, and welcome. I have a question about your submission (which I accepted):  How is the map on xii titled? Does it really have "Map:"? If so, what you did is fine. If not, we don't add qualifying material to titles that way, and it should be changed to omit that. If we needed to disambiguate -- say we had artwork that was a map and artwork that was some other sort of illustration/painting, and we wanted to give them both the same title -- we'd add the disambiguation at the end in parentheses, e.g., "(map)". Here, it doesn't look like disambiguation is needed. If "Map:" isn't in the title and you want to record that it's a map, you can add notes to the title itself by going here and using "Edit Title Data". Thanks, and thank you for contributing. --MartyD 11:09, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Four Dukes and a Devil
A slight contradiction in the note field of this publication record. If the book has a statement about the month of publication, then it's wrong to state that the publication date is from Amazon, unless you give the actual day of publication. Thanks. Mhhutchins 06:06, 22 October 2012 (UTC)


 * You're right, I will correct this. Thanks. BungalowBarbara 06:57, 22 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Approved, thanks! Ahasuerus 07:13, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Note to Moderator Field
According to the Help page about this field:
 * Do not ask questions of the moderator in this field. You will get a faster response at the Help Desk, and by asking there, you may avoid needless effort and unnecessary submissions.

Now to answer the question you asked in the submission to update this record: Should I put the inner cover into the Contents of this publication?, If it's an entirely different work than the one that appears on the cover, you can create a content record of INTERIORART type:


 * Click the "Edit This Pub" link under the Editing Tools menu.
 * Go down to the Content section of the entry page.
 * Click the "Add Title" button.
 * Complete the appropriate fields (leaving blank those that are not applicable). The title is the title of the work which is being illustrated, usually the name of the publication or a story contained in that publication. Change the entry type to INTERIORART. The artist's name goes in the Author1 field.
 * Submit.

A reminder: please do a primary verification of records that you update when the source of your data is the book itself. Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:49, 23 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the information. A question -- what do I use for the page number for an inner cover (apparently the technical term is a "stepback." Is it a "front end paper?"


 * I plan to do a primary (transient) verification on this title once it is all correct. (I have it out from the library). BungalowBarbara 19:10, 23 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Start from the first numbered page of the book and then count backward. If you get to "1" and you've not reached the page on which the content appears, start from the first page of the book after the cover and count forward until you reach page 1. Add those number of pages to the page count field in brackets, such as "[4]+297". Then give the page number on which the content appeared in brackets, such as "[1]".


 * A wiki page posting hint: when you're replying to a previously posted message add a colon at the beginning of your message to indent and separate it from the previous message. Continue to add a colon to each successive message. Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:26, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Use of HTML in the Note field
In the submission which updated this record, it appears that you removed the HTML unnumbered list which was used to separate the individual notes. Using the unnumbered list method (  ) instead of the line break method gives a cleaner and more organized look to the note field. It's not mandatory that you use this method, but once in the record, they shouldn't be removed. If you wish to learn how to use this method, here's a link to the help page. Again, you don't have to do this. Using the line break method is OK, but once someone has gone through the effort of using the list method, please work with it. Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:59, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

A note concerning excerpts: They aren't given a length designation. They are of SHORTFICTION type, and the length field is left blank. I've removed the length from the excerpts in the above cited record. Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:00, 23 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your information. I really like your attention to detail and appreciate all your help and corrections as I learn my way around the ISFDB. BungalowBarbara 19:08, 23 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you. Some would call my "attention to detail" a curse, or at least a mild case of OCD! There's a steep learning curve when you first start editing here, which will become easier the longer you hang around. I hope you'll continue to contribute. Mhhutchins 19:28, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

The Bite Before Christmas
Do the excerpts included in this book appear on unnumbered pages? A bracketed page number would indicate that. Mhhutchins 21:04, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Same situation with this book? Mhhutchins 21:06, 28 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Yes, to both books. The excerpts appear on un-numbered pages at the back of the book. I counted forward from the last numbered page. If I read the Help pages right, that's how it should be done -- correct?

"Death By Dahlia"
At 25 pages in length, are you certain this story is a novella (more than 17.5K words)? Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 19:50, 1 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Oops! It is a novelette. I must have typed "nv" instead of "nt." Thanks for catching the mistake!

LCCN
When entering the Library of Congress Control Number in an ISFDB record's note field, it should be in the form "LCCN: XXXXXXXX". It's optional to link it to the LoC website. If so, here is the instructions. Thanks. Mhhutchins 04:59, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

Kitty short stories
I've changed the name of the series to "Kitty Short Fiction" because of the varying lengths. Mhhutchins 05:05, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

Glamour
I've accepted the submission adding this record for an issue of Glamour but made the following changes: added the issue date to the title field (this is standard for all magazines), and changed the editor to "Editors of Glamour" (this is standard for entering nongenre magazines). Feel free to create content records for any interior art that illustrates spec-stories in nongenre magazines), regardless of the artist(s) stature within the spec-fic field. Thanks. Mhhutchins 20:44, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Dates and Amazon
Hi. I accepted your changes to, but I restored the 2010-04-00 date and removed the note about exact date from Amazon. When the book states the publication date, we go with that, even if the book happens to have been available earlier. Amazon is also not a reliable source of dates: The dates there are usually from publisher's pre-announcements and may or may not reflect actual publication dates. So we only use Amazon's date as a last resort (or upon book-less, initial entry where Amazon is the source). --MartyD 12:11, 24 November 2012 (UTC)


 * A follow-up: I guess it isn't actually stated anywhere that we stick with the date as stated in the book. I started this discussion if you'd like to chime in.  --MartyD 19:27, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

Fate's Edge
Just in case you didn't get it, thanks for the correction, however, when I clicked cover artist Victoria Vebell's hyperlink I found her entry pretty thin. So, I added her, for what it's worth, web page. If you're into urban fantasy, you might check out the images there, they're unlabled, and see if you can id some more books. Have fun. MLB 11:41, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

Using the Amazon date for publications with stated dates
It is ISFDB standard to use the stated date of publication unless there is verifiable secondary evidence that the date is in error. So if a book is month-dated, such as this one, then that is the date which should be entered into the record's publication date field. If the publication is only year-dated, it's OK to use the Amazon date in the record's publication date field, giving the source for the date in the note field. But a stated month-date trumps the Amazon day-date. You always have the option of recording the Amazon day-date in the note field. This may have been brought to your attention earlier, but I'm unsure whether the policy had been fully explained. Thanks. Mhhutchins 03:12, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, I knew that was the case when I was entering the publication. In this case, though, someone else had entered the publication with information from Amazon -- including the exact day. So, if I have the actual book in hand, I should overwrite the publication date as I update the publication? Change 2011-10-04 to 2011-10-00, in this case? Including the stories in the anthology as well? Just want to be sure. BungalowBarbara 03:21, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, if you're the first person to do a primary verification feel free to change anything about the record to make it match your copy. If another editor has done a previous primary verification, and there are discrepancies, you should bring it to their attention. Also, if the stories are original to this publication, i.e. this is their first publication, they should have the same date as that of the publication. Mhhutchins 03:56, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

"Hostage to Pleasure", "Slave to Sensation", "Caressed By Ice"
Thanks for creating new records for later (4th, 7th and 8th) printings of these books! I have approved all three submissions, but I had to change the publication dates to "0000-00-00" (which is displayed as "unknown") since we don't know when these printings were published. Unfortunately, most publishers no longer provide this information on the copyright page and it can be hard to find :-( Ahasuerus


 * I was just wondering about the publication date -- thanks for the clarification. I will keep it in mind for later printings.

Mage Heart cover
Is either this or this the right cover for ? --MartyD 01:21, 25 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you for finding these! The first one is correct for the paperback version I have, and I will add it to that record. The second one is correct for the hardcover edition. Good work! BungalowBarbara 01:26, 25 December 2012 (UTC)

Photographer cover credit
There's precedent for using the photographer's name for cover art credit. In fact, if you do a name search for "Getty Images", you'll find a few as "Xxx Yyy/Getty Images". I personally would not include the "/Getty Images", but at least one other moderator would. Regardless, it's definitely ok to record the photographer in, if that's the primary art credit. I would have done it for you, but I wasn't sure if "Robberts" with two Bs was accurate or a typo. --MartyD 12:48, 25 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Yes, it's Robberts with two Bs on the copyright page. Thanks! BungalowBarbara 21:03, 25 December 2012 (UTC)

Bronwyn's Bane
I'm holding a submission to update this record, as you did not give a source for the data. If you're working from a book in hand you must state that in the submission's Note to Moderator field. Mhhutchins 05:54, 27 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Sorry, yes, it's from a book in hand. BungalowBarbara 05:58, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Fairyville
You should not create a separate content record for an epilogue unless it has no connection to the actual novel. We don't create content records for parts of novels, regardless of whether they were pre-published in the same or different format. A note in the Note field should suffice. I'll hold the submission for your response. 00:47, 9 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Sorry, did not realize that. I have canceled the submission. BungalowBarbara 01:01, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

Ace pb of Changing Planes
I will accept the submission to update this record to add the interiorart records, because of the effort you made to create them, but you will now have to merge each of the records with the ones that already exist in the database. In the future you'll find it easier to IMPORT the contents from another record, in this case the Harcourt first edition, which will automatically merge the content records. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:57, 9 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you! I know how to clone a publication -- how do I import contents? --- Never mind, figured it out. There is an "import contents" choice when you are viewing a publication. Live and learn! Thanks for the tip. BungalowBarbara 23:02, 9 January 2013 (UTC)


 * [After an edit conflict, I was writing this when you edited the comment, and I wasn't going to let it go to waste!]


 * Go to the publication record which has the contents, write down the publication ID number which follows "cgi?" in your browser's URL. Then go to the record which has no contents and click the "Import Content" link under the Editing Tools menu. On the next screen, enter the record number of the one which has contents. If the page numbers are the same, leave the next box checked. If not, uncheck the box. Click "Import Content". On the next page you can reconcile the page numbers if necessary, and you can add more content if the new pub has content which wasn't included in the old one. Then submit. It's a good idea to bookmark this page. It's a list of the most common ISFDB tasks and links to their help pages. Thanks. Mhhutchins 23:08, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

The Birthday of the World
Can you confirm that the title of this record correctly reflects that given on the book's title page? Other publications of this are title The Birthday of the World and Other Stories. Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 23:01, 9 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Cover says The Birthday of the World and Other Stories (current cover image is not quite correct, I will see if I can find a better one). However, the title page says "The Birthday of the World" and nothing else. I will add this to the Notes. BungalowBarbara 23:04, 9 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks. And I will unmerge the publication from its current title record and make it into a variant. Mhhutchins 23:10, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

Amazon images
You're doing very nice work! Many of the records you have been working on have images from amazon, which in itself is not a problem. Older images, though, have in the URL a bunch of ZZZZZZZs. These images are inherently unstable, in that once Amazon updates their record [a new edition/printing ...] they will show a different image and the one[s] with the ZZZZs disappear! Since you are mostly editing with book-in-hand, could you upload a new image to replace those images with the 'dreaded' ZZZZZZs? The process is quite easy [assuming you have a scanner]. A secondary process is to download the image with the ZZZZZZZs to your computer and then upload the same image to the db [makes it stable as the URL will change]. Cheers! --~ Bill, Bluesman 02:13, 12 January 2013 (UTC)


 * No scanner. Wish I did have one, but...no $$ right now. I will try your second suggestion. Thanks for the tip! BungalowBarbara 03:01, 12 January 2013 (UTC)


 * You're welcome. If you use the second option, please note if there is a difference between the image as-is and the book [amazon often uses pre-publication images that lack blurbs/award seals/etc]. --~ Bill, Bluesman 03:10, 12 January 2013 (UTC)


 * How should I fill in the Source field when uploading the image? Just give the original URL at Amazon? BungalowBarbara 05:47, 12 January 2013 (UTC)


 * No. Just say "Amazon". But you can save a lot of time and effort to just link the publication record directly to the Amazon image file without uploading it to the ISFDB server. Mhhutchins 22:09, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I do usually link to the Amazon file. Bluesman was suggesting that because the 'dreaded' LZZZZZ files are not stable -- Amazon may change them -- that I should handle them differently. The first step, obviously, should be to look to see if I can find a different valid image on Amazon & elsewhere, and I know how to do that. If I can't find an alternate, second logical step would be to scan in an image so we have a stable image link -- but I can't do that. BungalowBarbara 22:17, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

OFearna edits
Feel free to notify me of any omissions or errors I've made in verifications -- sometimes the characters blur together when going from book to screen ^-^ I also have accounts at goodreads, librarything, comicbookdb, facebook and lots of other places under the username ofearna, which is my last name (O'Fearna). Enjoy! Ofearna 04:27, 12 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks! You can find me on librarything as bungalowbarbara. BungalowBarbara 05:48, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

Incorrectly uploaded cover image
wasn't uploaded correctly. Please go to the publication record and use the "Upload Cover Scan" link. If this is the same as the image on Amazon, then it's unnecessary to upload it to the ISFDB server. Just link the record to the Amazon server. (One you've responded to this message, I'll delete the uploaded image.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 21:08, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Same situation with. Just follow the directions using the "Upload cover scan" link. But again, if this is not a personal scan, it would be easier just to link to the Amazon image. Mhhutchins 21:11, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I did use the Upload Cover Scan link on the publication. I am going by a suggestion on my messages page by Bluesman -- maybe you two can talk it over? In the meantime, I will not upload any more images. Thanks! BungalowBarbara 21:13, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * If you look at the two (now three) wiki image pages that I linked to you can see there are a couple of elements missing: 1) they do not have a license which is attached to every image file on the server in which we give a reason why we have the right to host a copyrighted image (without the license tag, charges of copyright infringement can be made); 2) they are not linked back to the publication record, nor are they linked to the artist's category page which is done automatically when you use the Semi-automated Upload Procedure. (Look at this recent upload to see how the image wiki page should appear. Notice the "Fair Use" tags and the link to the publication record.) So if you actually went to this title record and clicked the link titled "Upload new cover scan", and followed the directions, and this is the result, then we have a bigger problem. Can I ask you one favor? Please try again. If it doesn't work this time I'll try to figure out the problem. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:08, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, that is what I did -- clicked "Upload new cover scan," chose the file on my hard drive which was a simple "save" of the Amazon link, edited only the Source area. After looking at the Semi-automated Upload Procedure I see that it does tell me to go on to step 6 and beyond on the Direct Upload Procedure. I omitted steps 7-12 of that area -- was that what caused the problem? Maybe the Wiki could be edited slightly to stress that they need to be done. BungalowBarbara 22:26, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * After clicking the "Upload new cover scan" link, do not enter the Amazon link into the open dialog box. That may be what's causing the problem. First click "Choose File", then find the file on your hard drive, and then replace "Scanned by User:BungalowBarbara " with "Amazon" (just the words, no link). Please try it this way without entering a link. Mhhutchins 22:48, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Something else: the image file MUST be on your hard drive, not just the saved link to the file on Amazon's server. Are you certain the file is on your computer? Mhhutchins 22:51, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, I did have a file saved on my hard drive. Did it again: went to, clicked "Upload new cover scan," chose the file on my hard drive, replaced the "Scanned by..." bit with "Amazon," clicked Upload File. I got a warning that the file already existed, so I replaced it. I did not do anything else. Here's what happened -- this page. Is that what should have happened? BungalowBarbara 23:01, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * No, that's not right. And without watching you do it step by step I can't tell you what you're doing wrong. So I'm going to take you step by step through the process:


 * 1) Go to this publication record.
 * 2) Left click on the link labeled "Upload new cover scan".
 * 3) Another tab/window should open which has a button labeled "Choose File". Left click on it.
 * 4) This should open up another window for your computer's hard drive, in which you will choose the file which you wish to upload. Left click on the "Open" button of that screen which will add that file's name after the wiki page's "Choose File" button. In the summary box, replace your name with the source. Because you're replacing an image that's already been named the same as this file, check the box that says "Ignore any warnings" (ordinarily you wouldn't do this, but this is a special case because you're duplicating a filename.) Left click the "Upload file" button.
 * 5) You're then sent to the new wiki page for the file. If you right click on the image you can save its URL from the pop-up menu, or you can left click on it which leads to the URL of just the image. You'll have to copy the URL from your browser's URL address box.
 * 6) Go back to the publication record. Left click "Edit This Pub" and then enter the URL in the "Image URL" field of the update. Than submit.

Try this and see if it works. Mhhutchins 23:18, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Followed your steps carefully and exactly. (BTW, you are good at that -- do you write manuals?) Did it come out right? BungalowBarbara 23:25, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Nope. Take a look yourself. I'll upload the image myself and see what happens. Mhhutchins 00:35, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Did it and here is what it looks like. I honestly don't know what you're doing differently but somehow it's now working. Mhhutchins 00:38, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I've figured it out. You're removing the two final curly brackets }} from the end of the upload template. This makes the template incomplete, so it doesn't work correctly. Try again, but this time make sure that the line line is |Source=Amazon}}. I'm pretty sure that removing those brackets is what caused the problem. Mhhutchins 00:47, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * No need to do another upload. I fixed it by adding the brackets back to the license template. That is a relief! Mhhutchins 00:49, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I'll fix your earlier uploads, too. Mhhutchins 00:51, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * You know, I noticed those curly brackets, and I could have sworn I was careful NOT to delete them. I figured they were needed. I'll keep my eyes on them on the future. Thank you so much! Glad it was easy to fix! BungalowBarbara 01:18, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

How to get a good URL from Amazon images
There's a way to get a stable URL from Amazon images without having to worry about those "LZZZZZZ" files. There's an explanation here about how to change the URL to get a stable URL. But here it is in a nutshell: remove all characters between the first "dot" and the last "dot" leaving just one before the file extension "jpg".

Here's an example: Go to the Amazon page for the Ace paperback of Mystic and Rider. Check to see if the image matches your copy. If it does, right click on the bottom portion of the image and a menu will pop up. Click on then "Copy Image URL".

Now go to the publication record to edit it. In the "Image URL" field, paste the URL you just copied. It should look like this:

 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S6YRYEYKL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg 

WOW! Isn't that one ugly and long URL?? If you click on that URL this is what you get.

Now fix it by removing every character between the first "dot" and the last, and you'll get this:

 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S6YRYEYKL.jpg 

Click on that URL and you'll get this lovely image.

Mhhutchins 23:05, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I knew that trick and it's a great one. My bad -- for that particular book, I thought I had already checked to see if there was a non-"LZZZZZ" image available. I hadn't, apparently. I will do that as my first step whenever I verify/update a book with an "LZZZZZ" image in the future. That still doesn't answer the question of what would be the proper procedure if the only image I can find is the LZZZZ one (and yes, I know I can look elsewhere than Amazon and I know how to get to the list of places to look). Thank you so much for all your help with this. I want to do things right and I certainly don't want to get ISDB in trouble for copyright violations. BungalowBarbara 23:12, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Amazon seem to let us get away with it although technically we're not supposed to use such tricks - I guess we send them such a lot of business that means we're mutually assured beneficiaries. But do you own a scanner or digital camera? Because we are getting quite good at providing and storing our own images which should be even more permanent: although I guess as we're totally unfunded (despite the 'donations' link and the user-id we add to Amazon US links that could result in a small kickback) we're a bit more vulnerable to a complete collapse. (We've been kicked off two hosting sites already as our popularity improves, for instance - and I've no idea what would happen if Ahasuerus gafiated or worse.) But using our own images allows us to do things like zoom in on a part of a cover to help identify an artist's signature - see Artist Images and Artist Signature Images. We can do so much more if we host our own pictures - but if you can't provide such don't worry, these are nice-to-haves rather than essentials. BLongley 03:48, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * No scanner. I do have a digital camera and it has a "close-up" mode. Hmm...I will have to experiment with that. Thanks for the suggestion! BungalowBarbara 03:51, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

Your patience with US is appreciated too
Thank you, Barbara, for all your patience and corrections as you learn more about the ISFDB. New users are a valuable resource in teaching us old hands where we're lacking, be it poor/out-of-date/misplaced/non-existent help pages or illogical/broken submission software or even just bad netiquette as we try and pull everything together into a wonderful resource. Stick with us and we'll stick with you. BLongley 03:24, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

One specific question for you: you mention your use of "Primary (Transient)" a lot. That's fine, but as the inventor of it I've recently been wondering if it could be improved. Some people seem to use it when they really are keeping the book, they just don't want questions about it. There's no netiquette established over who gets to use the slot - should the oldest get to keep it even if they've moved on, or should it always go to the newest still-enthusiastic editor? It would be easy to add more Transient slots but that might upset people that think the details are already too long. That's fixable with some more user preferences like 'only show Transient Verifications less than X days old", but that would require a bit more coding. I know MY local libraries don't keep books forever, and the average life of a paperback is about 6 loans before they sell or otherwise dispose of it. Library editions are obviously longer-lasting but we don't separate that type very well - and there are nightmares where a MM paperback or TP are rebound in harder covers where the new ISBN is only on the outside but the original ISBN is still on the inside.... sorry, I'm beginning to waffle aren't I? The ONE specific question I want to ask you is, as a self-confessed heavy user of the feature, "What needs fixing or improving with it?" That's really one question, but I don't mind if you come up with even more answers than I just did. You'll probably come up with a range of 'that's so simple to do, why didn't we think of it before?" to "what you want is so obscure and difficult to code that we probably won't pursue it", but we'd rather have your questions and suggestions than nothing. BLongley 03:24, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I really can't think of much to suggest for "Primary (Transient)" at the moment. I have not come up with very many instances where I would have been the second "Primary (Transient)" verifier so I am not sure it is worth the trouble of allowing more than one. I would put that on the back burner unless you hear otherwise from other users. My main suggestion would be a "see my Transient verifications" feature. That would allow me to double-check recent verifications if I realize there is something I didn't check or do right. BungalowBarbara 03:32, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * That's good feedback, and is actually quite simple to code - after all, it's going to be very similar to the "My Primary Verifications" I invented a while back. And for very similar reasons - I did "My PVs" so that people could easily go back and recheck their early mistakes. I'll see if I can get it done in the next few days, I need to get back in practice with coding (actually, I need to fix my "new" PC up to developer-standard, I've been developing with Cygwin tools under Windows XP and the "new" machine only has Windows 7 on). So don't hold your breath, but do continue to think of ideas like this! BLongley 03:57, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I think I remember something about Windows 7 Pro being able to deal with old Windows XP programs, maybe? I'm more of a Mac person myself. Thank you and very best wishes for improving health. BungalowBarbara 04:04, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for remembering my health issues - mentally I am so much better than I have been in years (bloody Prozac, die, die, die!) but I do need to work on my physical health now. Not while it's this cold and icy though, I'd probably fall over even more easily and this time I'd be risking hypothermia before the ambulance got to me. I'm going to hibernate till my next doctor's appointment I think. BLongley 07:09, 19 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Re Windows 7: I think I only have Home or Basic edition, although ironically it's definitely got MS Office Enterprise edition on. (Don't tell Microsoft, at the price I paid for the entire system I'm sure at least some of the software is illegally pirated.) But I have no intention of using some of it - although I'm a fan of better documentation and diagrams we can't upload Powerpoint Presentations or MS-Word Docs here for instance. ("Yet", I hope, but I'm waiting on someone else to fix that.) BLongley 07:09, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

Noting the first publication...
...isn't necessary if there is already a record for the publication in the database. This can be logically deduced by the dates. The only exception would be if a work appeared in the same year in two different un-monthed publications. Mhhutchins 04:19, 20 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks! And thanks for doing all those title merges for me for the contents of Moscow But Dreaming! BungalowBarbara 04:21, 20 January 2013 (UTC)

Use of a colon in a title
When using a colon in a title there should be no space before it, and one space after it. I've adjusted the title of this record. Mhhutchins 00:42, 30 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I copy&pasted it over from another edition without noticing -- I'll correct the other editions of this work too. BungalowBarbara 00:46, 30 January 2013 (UTC) Well, looks like you beat me to it with the corrections. Thanks! BungalowBarbara 00:47, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Word Counter
One of the ISFDB editors wrote a pretty good word count calculator and made it available as a Google doc here. You may need to have a Google account to access it. You will be asked to enter the number of pages, the number of lines per page, and then the number of words in just a few lines for the number of pages that you set. Then it calculates a rough word count, which I've found to be quite accurate. Let me know if you need assistance. Mhhutchins 22:15, 31 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks so much, that will be very helpful! Yes, I do have a Google account. BungalowBarbara 22:20, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Ever After
I've responded to the submission you made to update the page count of this book on the primary verifier's talk page. Mhhutchins 23:12, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

A Turn of Light
Only generic titles, like "Introduction", "Preface", "Afterword", etc. are disambiguated by adding the title of the work. There is no need to add the title to works which have distinct titles, as you did for the content records in this publication. Also, in regard to the record for pages 846-849, we only give the page on which the work begins, not the range of pages. And the ellipsis in the title of the work on page 850 should be entered with spaces between the periods, per ISFDB standards. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:12, 2 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks, I will correct these. BungalowBarbara 02:04, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

World of the Drákon
I'm holding your submission to rename this series and place it into a super-series. What is the purpose of creating a super-series? Are there titles in the original series which you'll be relocating? Thanks. Mhhutchins 04:26, 16 May 2013 (UTC)
 * There is a new series, which I had not created -- I've just submitted the edit request to create it. "The Sweetest Dark Trilogy" -- per the author's Web site, her new book "The Sweetest Dark" is part of this new trilogy. It takes place in the Drakon 'verse but is apparently only loosely related to the Drakon Series. BungalowBarbara 04:57, 16 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I'll accept the submission and let you move the new series into the super-series. Mhhutchins 05:36, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

By the Mountain Bound
Found and added an image that seemed to match the description for [this]. --~ Bill, Bluesman 14:14, 19 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you! That's it, exactly! BungalowBarbara 04:12, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

Declaration of Courtship
"95 pages in Wild Invitation"?? How is this a synopsis?? --~ Bill, Bluesman 23:48, 30 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Never mind .... lol! --~ Bill, Bluesman 23:49, 30 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I must have canceled the submission just as you were reading it. Sorry about that! BungalowBarbara 23:51, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

Heart of Obsidian
I've corrected the date field of this record to match the stated date of publication (June 2013), and moved the actual date of publication (June 4, 2013) to the Note field. Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:00, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

The Guardian series
Hi. I have your proposed reordering of The Guardian series on hold. According to MJP's blog, the three novels are a trilogy, and what we have matches up with the numbers given there (except A Distant Magic should be #3, not #4). I suspect our current numbering may have come from the order of presentation on her website's bookshelf. There's no perfect way to handle this. One suggestion I have is to put the three novels into a "The Guardian Trilogy" subseries, so "The Guardian" would then directly contain the short fiction pieces and that trilogy, and the trilogy would have the internal numbering 1-2-3. You could then order "The Guardian", making the trilogy be #2 (or whatever position is most appropriate) within that. See what you think. I will leave them on hold until you respond (you can cancel them if you want to do it differently). Thanks. --MartyD 11:09, 30 July 2013 (UTC)


 * I would be happy with removing the number from the novella "The Alchemical Marriange," leaving the numbering the same on ' and ', and changing the number on  to 3. That's a common way the ISFDB handles a series with novels and novellas, and it would be fine with me. When I first looked at the series, it was set up with the one novella numbered and the others not, but I have no objection to doing it differently. The Synopsis information will make it clear that "The Alchemical Marriage" is a prequel. Speaking of that, I think I put some Synopsis information into some of the edits, and I don't remember just what it was. And as far as I know, there isn't a way for me to view the details of my Pending Edits. (If there is, please let me know!) So, could you put the synopsis part of the edits through and change the numbering on those pending edits? If not, what do you propose? BungalowBarbara 20:45, 30 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, you gave a very lovely synopsis on the novella. I will do as you suggest: remove the numbering from the novella, and number the novels 1-3.  Thanks.  --MartyD 23:13, 30 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Done. See The Guardian.  Feel free to change anything that doesn't look right.  --MartyD 23:16, 30 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you! It looks great. BungalowBarbara 23:47, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

Series data and synopses
When adding data to title records, be sure to only add series to the parent record and not the variant record. The system duplicates the display of titles when series data is recorded in both the parent and variant record. It's OK to put synopsis data in a variant record, but it's better in the parent record (and placing it in both is redundant.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 03:11, 31 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I wasn't aware of this. Will keep it in mind. BungalowBarbara 03:22, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Dark Symphony
Please confirm the ISBN given in this record. The number given is not a valid ISBN. Also, by this time most publishers were using ISBN-13s. Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 22:11, 13 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for catching this! ISBN as shown on copyright page is 978-0-515-14417-8. I can't read ISBN on back cover, it is covered with a seller's label with code 0051514417 which has been laminated over and can't be removed. Holding back cover up to light, it looks like actual ISBN on back cover is 13 digits. Let's use that one. Sorry for the mistake. BungalowBarbara 22:21, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

Dark Melody
Re this record: I found a scan of the cover which is closer to how you described it. Is this the same as your copy? Mhhutchins 04:32, 26 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, that's it! Thanks! BungalowBarbara 04:47, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Cover image file size limits
far exceeds the ISFDB standards: no more than 600 pixels tall (it's 1122 pixels), and no more than 150 kb in size (it's 334 kb). I can resize it to the proper standards and replace the current file, if you wish, or you can do it yourself. Just let me know. Mhhutchins 06:18, 29 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Sorry! I have cropped and resized the image and replaced the current file. BungalowBarbara 06:37, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

Dark Desire
Re this publication: bracketed numbers in the page count field indicates that the pages are not numbered (using neither Roman nor Arabic numerals). If they're not numbered and the pages include substantial data (important enough to create a content record for) that number should be entered using Arabic numbers, i.e. "[12]+369". If any one of those 12 pages have a Roman numeral you can determine the total additional page count by counting backward and forward to arrive at the total number of unnumbered pages and enter it into the page count field as "xii+369". If any of those 12 pages have an Arabic numeral, and the pagination starts over at "1" for the main body of the book, then the page count field would be "12+369". Under no scenario can a page count field be "[xii]+369". Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 01:15, 18 September 2013 (UTC)


 * None of the pages before the main body of the book are numbered in any way, and the pagination does start at "1" for the main body of the book. There is a "A Letter to My Readers" before numbered page 1, which was not in earlier editions of the book. (It had appeared on the publisher's and author's Web site.) It takes up 3 pages and talks about the writing of the book. I was not sure whether to put it in the contents or not. Right now it is mentioned in Notes. Do you think I should put it in contents as [bp]? Thanks! BungalowBarbara 01:55, 18 September 2013 (UTC)


 * That is one option (except that it's just "bp", not "[bp]".) Or, my preference, you can count the number of unnumbered pages, and add that number in brackets (using Arabic numbers) to the page count field. If you add a content record for the letter, its starting page should be in bracketed Arabic numerals. Mhhutchins 02:27, 18 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks, I will correct it. BungalowBarbara 02:31, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Darkness at Dawn
Submission updating this record was accepted but there are a couple of problems. Are the two pieces actually credited as "unknown" or are they just not credited, in which case it should be credited to "uncredited". Also, "bp" as a page designation (meaning "before pagination") should not be bracketed. If you count the unnumbered pages and added them to the page count field, only then should you bracket the derived page number of the unnumbered page on which the piece appears. If you choose not to add the unnumbered pages in the page count field, just use "bp" for any piece which appears before the first numbered page. Mhhutchins 03:56, 25 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Sorry, will change to "uncredited" and remove brackets from around "pb" -- thanks. BungalowBarbara 04:23, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Magic Rises
A quick question about Magic Rises, which says "First printing per number line 10—3". Should it say "Third printing per number line 10—3" instead? Ahasuerus 03:29, 5 October 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, it should. Sorry for the mistake. BungalowBarbara 03:31, 5 October 2013 (UTC)


 * No problem, I have corrected the data and approved the related submission. Thanks for checking! Ahasuerus 03:40, 5 October 2013 (UTC)

"Fictional essays"
Just a note that "fictional essays", i.e. essays written from a point of view within a fictional world, are generally entered as SHORTFICTION rather than ESSAY. The Notes field of The Burning Eye publication record would be one example of how these pieces are usually handled. There are even more extreme cases, e.g. Stanisław Lem wrote more than a dozen "fictional reviews" of non-existent SF books collected in 'Doskonała próżnia'.

Based on the above, I have changed the title type of "Excerpts from A Handbook for Working with Talents, by Sergei Didier" from ESSAY to SHORTFICTION. Keep up the good work! :) Ahasuerus 02:34, 25 October 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the correction! And thank you for reminding me of Lem's book of fictional reviews -- I read it long ago. Time to send for it from the library again! Let's see, the English translation is "A Perfect Vacuum." And didn't he write a book of fictional introductions to nonexistent books as well? Aha, "One Human Minute." What a brilliant writer he was! BungalowBarbara 02:50, 25 October 2013 (UTC)

I, Vampire
Have replaced Amazon image with a scan of my verified copy in "I, Vampire" http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?17693 Prof beard 13:08, 15 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I don't have a scanner, glad you do! BungalowBarbara 00:38, 25 December 2013 (UTC)