What is going on here?

On LibraryThing everyone is a librarian. Members combine editions, disambiguate authors and much more. Some of it has personal benefits. Getting an author's editons straight can give you better book recommendations and matches to other members. But all of it creates communal value. It's a totally unprecedented experiment in social cataloging!

Sorry, was that too markety?

Tag combination

The rule: When in doubt, separate it.

The combined tags feature is designed to erase trivial distinctions. Lots of seeming synonyms have differences in nuance. When in doubt, separate it.

The system is designed so it's easier to separate than combine. For example, combining tags records your username. Separation is anonymous!

Good

• wwii / ww2
• 19thc / 19th century
• children's / childrens

Bad

• unread / to be read
• movies / cinema
• farsi / persian