Book merge?

I don't suppose there is any way all these various versions of each book can be merged somehow? It's something that's really bothering me about the book section.

Each new version seems to have about two (or less) people who have it on their list. I know that some people end up "favoriting" every version they find, but that also seems excessive, and like it would throw off numbers. I realize that people might want to have different editions (cover art or paper vs hardback), but with the Amazon lookup, you tend to end up with twenty or sometimes more of each book. Often with no information or cover art at all.

I realize this might be a tough thing to fix. I just wanted to throw it out there, because I've been trying to organize the last few days, and it's like trying to hold water in your hands. Very frustrating.

SSShhhhhhhhh, you'll awaken the beast!

As you may have seen Games went througha merge which was quite successful. Although token members lead outrage when books was suggested for this process. Different versions are more important than a tidy database was the result.

Keep fighting the good fight though.

I wouldn't care if the version of a book I had read wasn't the one representing it.

I'd much rather just have one entry for each book so that reviews and collative ratings actually hold some worth on that section.

SSShhhhhhhhh, you'll awaken the beast!

You rang?

I'm all for an eventual merge of books, but until the organisational kinks are solved that shouldn't be happening. LibraryThing have it all set and handled wonderfully, and hopefully Tom can take a look at sites like it and make some changes which will please the readers amongst us (ie, me).

1. I want to see the cover image I own in my collection. Some versions of books I buy because I prefer a certain cover over another, and I want my collection to show this. Identical ISBNs can have different covers too, so this can already be a slight problem within the system with older versions of books floating about.

2. Additional authors. Not so much of an issue, but what about prefaces and critical analysis included by authors? Or different translation editions? Especially with certain classics this can make quite a difference.

3. Loss of information. One thing that would piss me off about a generalisation of items is the loss of all the data that each edition carries. ISBN and publisher are two of the biggies of this, especially since the user may not have access to the hard copy at any given moment. I find Listal to be an excellent reference point in looking at my collections and it would be sad to see this change.

I'm going to go through my collection soon and add notes to things which I don't want to lose if a merge were to be carried out. Searchable notes would also make life easier for people with large collections.

Just look at my collection, guys. I currently own over 500 books. I'm not just being petty about the subjuct, and it could may well be a breaking point for a subsection of users who may not frequent the boards like us. But it is important that reviews, tags and ratings are all brought together for a more accurate view of items.

I don't think it would be unreasonable to have all books under the same entry, with maybe sub-sets so that you can choose your edition/isbn. Not sure I understand the second two points, though. The question is, is that something that can be done here at Listal? If so, I'd love to see it. I'm just sick of searching for a book and finding so many blank copies (meaning there's no information at all beyond the very basic, if that--sometimes there's not even an author attached, and there's never a picture.), especially because so many of my favorite authors are not well-known. It's not that I can't find the books, it's just that I don't even know where to start, because they all end up blank.

I would like, if a merge were to happen, not to have to re-search for all those books that were suddenly lost because the copies I rated "disappeared," though. Is that likely?

After the new version of the site is finished I will probably do the book/music merging soon after. It will be like the games but you will be able to list multiple version of the same item (which adds to the complexity)

No data will ever be lost, like the game merging all data is still available.

I will be opening to existing members next week, probably people ranked 1000 or above to start with.

I'm looking forward to seeing it! :D