User talk:Seniorlady

Mhhutchins 00:51, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Magazine of Horror, August 1965
The submission to add a new content record to this publication has been accepted, but are you certain of the title "The Torture of Hope"? We have a record for "The Torture by Hope". Also, are you getting the content titles from the story's title page or from the publication's table of contents? We prefer the first. One last thing, many of the submission to update the records give the page count as 130. This is an odd number for magazines, since most page counts are multiples of 4 (but not always.) It is the ISFDB standard to include the covers when doing page counts for magazines, unlike books where we use the last numbered page as the page count (with some exceptions.) Thanks for contributing. Please respond here by clicking on the "[edit]" link to the right of this message, and sign your message with four tildes. Thanks again. Mhhutchins 01:18, 20 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Sir, Yes, I was getting the titles from the content page. The name "The Torture of Hope" appears on the cover, on the contents page, and on the story's title page as "The Torture of Hope."  It is, of course, possible that Lowndes got it wrong.  I am sorry about being wrong about the number of pages in the magazine.  I'll leave that out in the future.

Carolyn Moore Seniorlady 01:28, 20 August 2013 (UTC)


 * No problem. It's pretty easy to get a page count for magazines. First, find the first numbered page. Now go backward to see if the front cover was included in the count (i.e. it's page 1). If it was included in the count go to the last numbered page and count forward and including the two pages of the back cover. If page 1 was inside the front cover (the first inside page of the magazine), then add 4 to the number given on the last inside page of the magazine.
 * About the story title: as long as you're entering the title as given on the first page of the story, you can be faulted. It is ISFDB policy to enter "as is", even if it's an obvious editorial error. Once the title is in the database, it can be made into a variant of "canonical" title, i.e. the title which we've determined the author preferred. I'll do that for this story, and you'll see how it is displayed in this issue's publication record. Thanks. (We're rather informal here, so please call me Michael.) Mhhutchins 02:00, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Primary verification of records
I'm assuming you are updating these records with the publication in hand. If so, please do a primary verification of the record, once it agrees with the actual publication. You telling other users that the data of the ISFDB record is correct in all fields. Click on the "Verify This Pub" link under the Editing Tools menu, and check the button in the center column of the "Primary" row. If another editor has already used this slot, go down to the next open Primary slot at the bottom of the list. If you do not have the publication in hand, you should enter the source for your data in the record's Note field. Thanks. Mhhutchins 01:23, 20 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Sir, yes I am updating with the publication in hand. I have 33 out of 36 of these publications.  I collected them when I was young as they came out.  Thank you for helping me to figure this out.  It is not in any way obvious to nontechies.  Carolyn MooreSeniorlady 01:32, 20 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, we quite understand that there's some difficulty in learning how to make entries for new records and updates to current ones. We know there may be problems with new editors' submissions, and are prepared to help them as much as possible. You are doing extremely well for a first-time editor. We hope you stay around even after entering the issues for this magazine. Thank you for contributing. Mhhutchins 02:03, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Problems with cover image file uploads
In case you haven't seen it, I've responded to the message you posted on the Help page. Mhhutchins 04:58, 20 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you. I've tried another one from the beginning, making sure it fit the specifications you require.  You know I did look for some sort of size requirements, since I was sure you didn't want my 3mb scans on here, but I could not find them.  They did not seem to be listed under the section on how to upload images.  I'm sure I've just been overlooking the specs somewhere.  But one time in my trying to upload the image I got a message about it was too big and should be under 150 kb so at least I learned that but never saw anything about the pixel height.  Now I will go back and see if I can get those first two from the links you provided in your answer to my question.  CarolynSeniorlady 16:10, 20 August 2013 (UTC)


 * The 600 pixel limit is stated on the Upload page. As you discovered, if you upload a file larger than 150kb, you will get a warning before it is accepted. You have the ability to bypass this warning, but we ask that you only do this under special circumstances, for example, a file for a cover with wraparound art (like this one). Thanks. Mhhutchins 16:44, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Note to Moderator field
This field is used to supply additional information to the moderator that will help in the decision to accept or reject the submission. It should not be used to provide additional information about the publication itself, because that would go in the Note field. The Note to Moderator field is temporary and disappears once the submission is accepted or rejected. It's best not to use it to ask questions of the moderator, because we don't have the ability to respond directly to the submitter.

Now about Blackwood's "The Psychical Invasion": if it is published in two parts, it should be typed as SERIAL, instead of SHORTFICTION. I see that it appears in both the May and July 1968 issues. Can I assume that the second appearance is a continuance of the story published in the May issue? If so, you will need to remove the story from both issues, using the "Remove Titles From This Pub" function (under the Editing Tools menu). Just click on the box for the title you want to remove. You'll have to do this with both records (May and July). Next, update both records, adding a content record of the SERIAL type. The first will be titled "The Psychical Invasion (Part 1 of 2)" and the second will be "The Psychical Invasion (Part 2 of 2)". These new title records will have to be varianted to the record for the whole work, but that's a little advanced. I'll do that for you once you've updated each issue. If you're not comfortable doing this, let me know and I'll do it for you. Thanks. Mhhutchins 01:23, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry I've been using the wrong box to make notations and ask questions. Now I did read that changing the greyed-out titles would change them for every place you have them listed.  And The Psychical Invasion is greyed out so you have that story listed in other places, probably not serialized. So I better let you decide what to do with that one.  On your question, yes the May issue is part one of two and the July issue is the conclusion.  I'll answer the second message separately. Seniorlady 01:43, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * If you'll re-read my message, you'll see that I explained how to do it: removing the old title (the one that was greyed out), adding the new title (the serialized one), etc. It is somewhat advanced, but you were doing so well, I thought I'd throw you a fast ball! No problem. I'll do it for you. Mhhutchins 01:53, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Morning. Of course I read the instructions.  But I was tired and afraid of not being accurate.  I have a thing for accuracy.  You may understand why if I tell you that my profession was medical transcriptionist.  You can affect people's lives by not being accurate in that profession.


 * Now the reason I've been using the moderator box for notations that I thought were pertinent to the submission is just because it seemed obvious to the newcomer that the moderator would read anything in there and perhaps be able to decide if something else needed to be done. I'd appreciate knowing if there's another place on that editing page where the information I've been giving should be put instead.  I realize I may simply be drowning you in verbiage but as a newbie I thought you'd like to know why I thought you needed to know something or other about the submission.  Like the fact that something was serialized.  But I can see now that all that information I gave you on one of the early ones I did about the name of the story being wrong (according to RAWL) was unnecessary.  You just want it the way it shows up in the magazine.  Quite understandable.  It looks as though you have many thousands of books and publications on your site here, way too many to worry about minor stuff like that.  This website is quite an undertaking isn't it?  Seniorlady 14:29, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * It is perfectly fine to provide additional information about the submission in the "Note to Moderator" field. But if you have questions about the submission or the publication or how to enter it into the db, those should be asked at the Help Desk before making the submission. We would hate that you'd go through a lot of effort and time only to learn that the submission was rejected for a minor error. We don't usually do that with new editors, choosing instead to accept the submission, make the corrections, but bring them to your attention. For example, you noted that the R. E. Howard story "Valley of the Lost" published in the Summer 1966 issue was incorrectly titled by the publisher, who only discovered this later. I made the changes necessary to fix the ISFDB record for the story, because it had been merged with the other story of the same name. That is important information that only someone with the actual publication will know. And we appreciate the effort made in bringing such oddities to our attention. Just keep in mind that the "Note to Moderator" field is temporary. The moment the submission is accepted, all information in it disappears. If you think the information should be part of the permanent record, that is, important information about the publication, then enter it into the "Note" field. Thanks for contributing. Mhhutchins 15:17, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Magazine of Horror, September 1968
You asked a lot of questions in the Note to Moderator field in the submission to update this record. Perhaps you've not had a chance to read the message above before making this submission, so here goes. I'll accept the submission, but you'll have to change title of the Keller piece to "The Abyss (Part 1 of 2) and the type to SERIAL. Leave the date as is. If a work is serialized, it keeps the date of the publication record (Sep. 1968 for the first part).

Concerning the story "Leapers": it is currently shown as being credited to Carol Grey. Is that how the story is credited on its title page (not the magazine's contents page or the copyright page.) It is ISFDB policy to credit exactly as given on the work's title page and nowhere else.

You've changed the author credit of "One By One" to Richard M. Hodgens. Again, is that how it is credited on the story's title page?

I will accept the submission and you can make any necessary changes. Thanks. Mhhutchins 01:31, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Hello again. I'm an awful lot of trouble, aren't I?  Re: One by One-the author is shown as Richard M. Hodgens on page 66 where the story begins.  On page 85 where Leapers begins, the author is shown as Robert A. W. Lowndes.  I've been checking all the stories against that title page when I verify it and add the page listing since you said that is what you prefer.  I will change The Abyss now.  Thank you for the help.  Seniorlady 01:49, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the explanation. BTW, I've not mentioned this before, but you may notice that when you respond to a previously posted message, there are colons at the start of the message. And with each successive message, there's an additional colon. What this does is indent the message from the one above it, when makes reading the discussion easier.


 * And to answer your question: no, you're no more trouble than the average new editor. In fact, you've been better than the average new editor in many respects. First, you found your user page (some new editors take weeks to, or never, find it.) Second, you respond to messages. And more important than anything, you're very open to suggestions and haven't yet thrown up your hands in disgust at my "demands". (Believe me, many do!) Again, thanks for contributing. I hope these notes I'm giving you aren't overwhelming and that you continue to hang around. I think you'll find most of us are pretty easy to get along with. Mhhutchins 02:00, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Now I've found another one that has to be fixed and you will want to have an explanation, and I don't really know where to put it. I submitted a removal for the November 1968 issue of Magazine of Horror because the item that needs to be changed is greyed out.  And I gather from last night that if it is greyed out it needs to be removed first so that it can be safely changed.  The item is a prose poem that is listed in the magazine as by H. P. Lovecraft.  There are actually four prose poems collected under that title "Four Prose Poems," all by Lovecraft.  If memory serves me correctly, I think Ward Phillips was probably an AKA of Lovecraft but the issue does list it as Lovecraft.  Seniorlady 15:21, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I just accepted your submission to remove the Ward Phillips poem from this issue. You did well. I'll make the proper merging of the poems with those records already in the database. Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:39, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Prices and page count
I've noticed that several of the records which you have verified do not have the price or page count of the publication. Had you intended on going back and adding that data later? Sorry, if this feels like nit-picking, but a primary verification of a record essentially says: "Here it is, an accurate and complete record of this publication as I can give." Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:22, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I apologize. I didn't realize that was an important part of the primary verification.  I will go back and fix them and include it from now on. Seniorlady 15:30, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * The submission to update the November 1968 issue was accepted, but there are a couple of problems. The price should be entered in the format $0.00, so fifty cents would be $0.50. Also, it appears that you entered the URL of the image without the "http://" part. I'll fix both for you. Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:51, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * A question: what are the formats of these issues? They look like digests, i.e. saddle stapled (flat spine instead of rounded) and approximately 7" x 4.5". If so, then enter "digest" into the Binding/Format field. Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:55, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * According to several secondary sources these are all digests, priced at $0.50, and with 132 pages in each issue. I will update the records to reflect this. Mhhutchins 16:11, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I'll make sure I enter prices in the proper format from now on.


 * The size is 7 1/8 x 5 1/4 inches. The first two issues are stapled contents with glued covers.  Then I have a gap of two issues.  The next one I have the cover is stapled onto the contents on the spine.  All the rest are like that.


 * Now I have a question. In the March  1969 issue, there is a story by Keller that your listing shows as "The Oak Tree."  This is also the way the Table of Contents shows it, but when you go to the title page  you find that this is shown as Tales From Cornwall by David H. Keller, M.D.  Then below that there's a number, 1. The Oak Tree.


 * Reading the notes in the magazine, you find that there is a book called "Tales from Cornwall, A History of the Hubelaires." This is a series of stories, each complete in itself, collected together.  There will be  more from this "series" in the next several issues.  Since each is a complete story, it is not technically a serial, is it?  Anyway, how do you want me to handle that?Seniorlady 00:36, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I was going to go ahead a couple of issues, which is when I discovered this "series" continues in more magazines than I thought. I looked at the Sept. 1969 editing page, and I see that this is just listed with the story title but the Tales from Cornwall appears in the contents information only on the public page, so it  must be   something a moderator has done. Seniorlady 00:36, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * A series of stories is not the same as a story which is split for publication (that's a serial). The title records have a field in which you can enter the series of the story, and add the number as well if necessary. Those will be displayed in the publication record. If you look at how the Keller stories are displayed you'll see the series and number.  An editor can not add a series to a content record until after the publication has been accepted into the database. Then you can go back and update the title records of the contents (not the publication record) to add the series data. Mhhutchins 20:50, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Cover art credit
Is Fred Wolters credited for the cover art of the January and April 1965 issues of Magazine of Horror? My source for the credit is the Miller/Contento index to SF magazines. Mhhutchins 16:34, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I had searched these issues (and the November 1964 issue) and was unable to find any attribution of the cover art. There is considerable editorial writing in these magazines (considering how many magazines RAWL was editing, it must have taken up all of his time) which includes Introductions and a section called "It is Written" in which the readers commented on the stories and RAWL then commented on the comments.  But even reading all of this editorial writing for these issues, I never did find out who did the covers.  So you will have to go with your sources on that.  Later issues had it listed in the table of contents. Seniorlady 00:19, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Duplicate publication
I should not have accepted the submission that added this record. There was already another one in the database. I had assumed you searched for the pub to determine if there was a record for it. I've merged the duplicate contents with the current ones, but will have to delete the pub. After you've read this let me know, so that I can delete the duplicate publication record. Look over the older one to see if it matches your copy, and make an update if necessary. Also, do a primary verification of it. Thanks. Mhhutchins 20:31, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I am so sorry that I made an error that resulted in your having extra work to fix it. I did check the older submission and it tallied with the later one I accidentally made.


 * I have only three issues of Health Knowledge magazines left but they do not seem to be in your database. They are called Weird Terror Tales.  Do you wish me to try to add them in or just leave well enough alone?Seniorlady 21:07, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

SMS, Spring 1968
Can you confirm the spelling of the story by Smith on page 76 of this publication? We have records that spell it as "...Sorcerer" instead of "...Sorceror". Thanks for checking.

Also, a few other things have popped up over accepting the last few submissions: the binding should be given as "digest" (not capitalized). When entering an ellipsis (...), they should be entered with spaces between the periods. If it appears at the end of title, there's also a space between the last letter in the title and the ellipsis. So, "And Then No More..." would be entered as "And Then No More . . ." Also, you don't have to give the series of the stories in the "Note to Moderator" field. When the story is merged with the record for the title already in database, the series data is automatically displayed in the new publication record. Thanks. Mhhutchins 20:42, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, one more thing: if the record has a cover art credit which is not given in the publication, that should be noted in the "Note" field, not the "Note to Moderator" field. In fact, anything that is part of an existing record and not present in the publication should be either corrected or noted as not matching the pub itself. Mhhutchins 20:42, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, that spelling error slipped by me. It is supposed to be Sorcerer, not Sorceror.  On the series notes, I didn't do that.  Those were there when I opened up the edit page and I left them, not knowing if they were important.  On the credit, Then do you actually remove the credit that was put in from another source or just leave it and note that it is not credited in the magazine?Seniorlady 20:54, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * You leave it as is, if it is sourced but you must note that it is not present in the magazine itself. About the series data, you have been unnecessarily entering series data for stories in the "Note to Moderator" field, or I'm seeing things! For example, you say that a particularly story was in the Jules de Grandin series, and that another was in the Dr. Satan series. I'll just disregard any further series data that's entered into that field. Thanks. Mhhutchins 21:16, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, I was entering those notes. I thought you meant when I saw someone had entered Volume 1, #3 and that sort of thing.  Yes, I will not enter those notes anymore.  I had noted that someone was entering those notes on the final copy and really thought that was something you folks wanted to know.  I am sorry.Seniorlady 21:31, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Mag. of Horror, May 1970
In the Note to Moderator of the submission to add this record you wrote:


 * 1. The Duel of the Sorcerers. The story itself begins on page 73 but there is a facing page (72) with author information and an illustration. 2. The Moon-Dial shows the hyphen in the table of contents and on each page of the story but not on the title page.

If a work of art is specific to the story, even if there is no title on the page it is printed, that should be the page given for the story. So the start of "The Duel of the Sorcerers" should be page 72. Also, as previously instructed, if a story's title differs in any of its appearances, whether it's the contents page, the copyright notice, the running header, or the title page, the way it is given on the title page trumps all others. So "The Moon-Dial" must be changed to "The Moon Dial". I'll make the changes in the record. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:07, 22 August 2013 (UTC)