User talk:AlanMintaka

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: I hope you enjoy editing here! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~&#126;); 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! Ahasuerus 10:26, 19 Oct 2007 (CDT)
 * Help pages
 * What the ISFDB Wiki is for
 * ISFDB FAQ
 * Help:Screen:EditPub - Warning and a note on how to update a publication's contents

Amazing disappearing submission
Submission approved; question answered. Thanks! Ahasuerus 15:25, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Submission of Strange Mysteries 2, 12/10/2010
I have a copy of Strange Mysteries 2 and can add a primary verification to this record once it's entered in the database. By that time I should also have a cover image ready (haven't scanned it yet but will later tonight).

Submission of Strange Mysteries 2, 12/10/2010 - Errata
The publisher's name is spelled incorrectly. In the submission, the spelling is

Whortleby Press

The spelling should be

Whortleberry Press

I'm keeping notes on this submission and will fix that error when the publication is added.

Is there a way to edit a pending submission, or should this be deferred until after the book publication is added?


 * You can reject a submission before it's been accepted. (Go to the "My Pending Edits" list.) Otherwise you'll have to wait until after it's been accepted to make any edits to the record. Mhhutchins 22:21, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your time, Big Al Mintaka 21:44, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I've accepted the submission (here's the record.) There are a few problems that need to be worked out:


 * Short nonfiction pieces should be entered as ESSAY type instead of NONFICTION which is reserved for book-length works. You also need to disambiguate generic titles so the Preface should be titled "Preface (Strange Mysteries 2)".
 * The binding type field entry "Paperback" needs to be changed to either "pb" (mass-market paperback) or "tp" (trade paperback).
 * Price field should give the currency. If US dollars add "$" before the price.
 * Does this publication have any date at all? Can we assume that all of the stories are original to this anthology?  If so, they should all have the same date as the publication itself.
 * Publication series field should be blank. This appears to be a Title series which is handled at the title level (add it to this title record).
 * The synopsis field should not be used for promotional purposes. It should be objective data about the book's plot, and not repeat the authors or contents information which is part of the publication record.


 * If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask here. You might want to check out the links in the Welcome section above which provides help for entering pubs into the database.  Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:18, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Looking at the page on Lulu.com gives the date as March 23, 2009 (enter as 2009-03-23), and the size would indicate the binding as "tp". Mhhutchins 22:28, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks for taking the time to review the submission. I've made the suggested changes as described below, but first note that the link you provided at Lulu.Com is for Strange Mysteries, not Strange Mysteries 2.  The differences can be seen in the publication dates, page counts, and prices.  Per those and other differences, here is how I implemented the changes in your numbered list of suggestions:
 * Preface title was changed to "Preface (Strange Mysteries 2)" and type was changed to ESSAY. I left the Length field "-" since I wasn't sure how those values should be used for ESSAY.
 * Binding was changed to "tp" per your added note.
 * Currency "$" added to price.
 * RE publication dates of the stories: the only statement of publication date is this on the copyright page: "All contents copyright 2009". I looked through the book for individual publication dates for the stories but found none.  Given the publication date on Lulu.Com, I used 2010-10-18 for the publication date of the book.  Because of the date shown for "All contents" on the copyright page, I entered 2009-00-00 for each story (except the one by Poe which you provided, thanks for looking that up!).
 * I removed the publication series info and moved it to the corresponding fields in the title record.
 * Sorry about that synopsis. I lifted it from Amazon via an XML query for this book.  You're right, what Amazon calls a "Synopsis" is really a promo.  I deleted it from the title record via another submission.
 * While I was editing the title record, I also added the publication date 2010-10-18.
 * I fixed "Whortleberry" too.
 * Thanks once again for taking all that time to review this submission. I hope I haven't made matters worse with these changes; next time I add a new pub I'll be more careful along these lines. Big Al Mintaka 04:24, 16 December 2010 (UTC)


 * We understand fully that new editors require some time in order to learn all the intricacies of entering and updating records. It's something we've all gone through.  If you continue contributing, it shouldn't take long before you feel comfortable with each submission.  I've made a few more changes in the pub record, the major one changing the publication date from 2009-00-00 to 2010-10-18.  The copyright year is not the publication date and, for the most part, isn't used to determine that date.  If a pub doesn't state the publication date, you can use secondary sources, but make sure to give the source in the record's field notes.  Thanks for contributing. Mhhutchins 05:46, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Links to uploaded images
Hi. When you upload a cover image and link to it, don't use the main page ( http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/Image:BILLGH1965.jpg ), but rather use the link to the image on that page. You can right-click on either the image itself or the link that appears below the image and Copy Shortcut (or Copy Link Location or Copy Image Location) to get the URL that should be used for the cover image link ( http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/3/39/BILLGH1965.jpg ). I fixed up the link for. It's a little tricky to remember that. Thanks for upload and for contributing. --MartyD 11:59, 27 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry about that. By this note on my user page, I should get it right next time around.  Thanks for your patience and have a good one.  Big Al Mintaka 05:18, 29 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Not a problem. It's one of a collection of little quirks that take some getting used to.  You are not the first person to be bitten by it, and you won't the last, so you're in good company.  And no need to worry about knowing all of the quirks; that's what moderators are here for.  Don't hesitate to take your best shot at entering information -- you can't damage anything -- or ask for help (see some links at the top of this page).  We're always happy to see people contributing.  --MartyD 11:40, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Recent submissions/verifications for Alien Dust, by E. C. Tubb
Hi, RE recent submissions to Alien Dust, by EC Tubb, 1957 Avalon:

 Per MartyD's response in the Comm Portal, I've added a Clute/Nicholls verification sans any notes explaining the rationale. As MartyD pointed out, Reference:Verification_Sources shows that a missing publisher is not atypical for Clute/Nicholls. In that case, the entry for Alien Dust in Clute/Nicholls should suffice as verification since Avalon was the only US Publisher in 1957: If you think a note to that effect is still necessary, let me know and I'll add it. I changed the note on price
 * "Alien Dust (1952-3 NW; 1954 Nebula; fixup 1955; expurgated 1957 US)"
 * "Alien Dust (1952-3 NW; 1954 Nebula; fixup 1955; expurgated 1957 US)"
 * From: "Price from Tuck"
 * To:  "Price from DJ front flap".

This is probably the default for books with DJs that have intact prices, but I wanted to explain why I had changed the Tuck reference rather than just delete it. If you'd rather see no note at all given that I verified the primary and saw the price on the DJ, feel free to axe it or let me know and I'll get rid of it. 


 * Hi. If you have questions, your best bet is to post them on ISFDB:Help_desk (for general questions) or ISFDB:Moderator_noticeboard for problems with submissions.  Those pages will be watched (and by more people), which may not be true of your talk page.  But no harm done, and I noticed your questions, so....


 * You don't need a note about Clute/Nicholls. What you did is fine.  For the price (and any other details), the assumption is that the information came from the book.  Information not from the book (i.e., from a secondary source or deduced somehow) should be noted.  So it's normal when fixing up an entry originally constructed from secondary sources to delete notes.  In your example here, there's no need to replace the Tuck price source note, you could just delete it.  That said, it's always ok to supply detailed notes -- people often do, especially to document the cover artist credit (which can appear in multiple forms in multiple places in/on a book) -- if you want to.  --MartyD 11:03, 31 January 2011 (UTC)


 * OK, thanks for the heads-up about those boards. I think I'm going to go ahead and remove the price note from Alien Dust so as to leave room for more important content that anyone else might want to post there.  Have a good one, Big Al Mintaka 04:40, 1 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm the one who added the "Price from Tuck" note, because at the time there was no price on the record. It's perfectly OK to remove any reference to a source, if the data is present in/on the pub when you're doing a primary verification. If you are updating a pub with data that is not present on the book itself, you should always note your source. Thanks. Mhhutchins 05:49, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Cover image for The Lost Comet
I see that you uploaded the cover image twice: and. Then you linked the second version to the pub record. If you look at the wiki page of the second version you'll see there is no license tag for the image, which is only added automatically when you use the "Upload new cover scan" function from the record's publication page. We'll need to delete the second version (duplicate without a license) then change the link in the pub record back to the first version (which you replaced with a better image.) I think you may have been confused because your new image did not appear on the wiki page once it was uploaded. You have to refresh/reload the page in order for the new one to appear. You also have to edit the wiki page if there was a different license template used on your image than the one it was replacing. In this case there was a difference (the original image had one of the earlier templates which didn't provide as much info as the current one). I've done that for you. Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:07, 6 February 2011 (UTC)
 * It just happened again, with The Blue Barbarians and Next Door to the Sun, both by Coblentz. Sorry, I didn't see your message before screwing up again.


 * Actually reloading the page doesn't help; I had to click on the "Full Resolution" link to see the image. Part of the confusion is that there is an error message displayed in the thumbnail pane after uploading the image:


 * "Error creating thumbnail: /var/www/html/wiki//bin/ulimit4.sh: line 4: /usr/local/bin/convert: No such file or directory"


 * I think if some explanation were present, such as what you said about duplicates without licenses, it would help rubes like me who might want to try uploading the image again. I'll go back and review the cover images for The Blue Barbarians and  Next Door to the Sun and make sure the the URLS link to my first attempts (and that they actually exist!!!).  Big Al Mintaka 18:30, 6 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Just verified that the cover image for Next Door to the Sun **looks Like** my first attempt, at least as far as the file name goes. The The Blue Barbarians thumbnail still shows the error message instead of the thumbnail, and doesn't display the thumbnail if I reload the page; however, the image does appear if I click on the "Full Resolution" link.  The "Full Resolution" link is the one I used for the cover image URL in the pub editor. Hope these images have the right license tags.  In any case, in the future I'll know not to upload the images twice.


 * If you upload an image of more than 600 pixels in height (like this one), it won't display unless you've set your preferences to display images of all sizes. Click on the "Preferences" link, then click on "Files", and choose "10000x10000px" (the limit). There is no "right" license, just some provide more data than others.  Either one would be fine, there just has to be one. This one doesn't have any, but don't worry about it.  I'll delete it and change the link back to the original file which does have a license. I'll see what I can do about fixing any problems with the other two images. Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:19, 6 February 2011 (UTC)


 * There were no other problems with the other two, only one that was submitted twice, of which I deleted the duplicate. Mhhutchins 19:22, 6 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanx once again for your help and patience. Per your advice I went into my preferences and set the max image size to 10000 X 10000px. Have a good one, Big Al Mintaka 05:40, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

The Syndic by Kornbluth
You want to remove the notes in this pub record that state "Published October 1953/ 1st printing August 1953. Printing history from 1955 Bantam ed.(#1317)" Do you have a copy of the 1955 Bantam edition and can attest that the information in that printing contradicts this statement? Also, the number in the ISBN/Catalog field appears to be an Library of Congress Catalog Number. If so, it should not go in that field, but should be entered in the note field. I'll hold your submission until I hear back from you. You can respond on this page. Thanks. Mhhutchins 07:16, 24 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Submission was cancelled due to non-response. If you feel this is in error, please leave a message on my talk page. Mhhutchins 00:18, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

I, Robot: To Protect
Just a quick note that after approving your submission I removed the reference to Amazon as the source of data. Now that we have a primary verification on file, we no longer have to worry about Amazon, whose data is relatively easy access but, sadly, is often iffy. By the way, is the page count 400 as Amazom claims or 385 as WorldCat maintains? TIA! Ahasuerus 04:14, 1 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I checked the book out of the library, so thought I'd make any changes... there's a few. .Ofearna 18:16, 14 May 2012 (UTC)

The Avon Fantasy Reader
When modifying a primary verified publication, you need to notify the primary verifier(s). I have placed you submission on hold to give you time to discuss your proposed change with them. Thanks. -- JLaTondre (talk) 14:13, 16 November 2013 (UTC)
 * As you haven't responded to this, I went ahead and discussed it with the verifiers and have accepted the edit. However, in the future, please notify primary verifiers when modifying their pubs. Not doing so can result in your changes being rejected. Thanks. -- JLaTondre (talk) 15:44, 30 November 2013 (UTC)