"I was just sending notes to folks with Boswell's London Journal listed with Pottle as the author, and checking to be sure I had not already sent one to you, when I noticed that you apparently replied to me by accidentally posting to your own profile page. At the risk of sounding 'patronizing', you may want to delete that."

First, it's not about you. Which is precisely why I very much intentionally put a public comment on my own profile here. I get these requests all the time and a great many of them are rude, and/or have the wrong end of the stick themselves.

"I can only apologize if my requests sound patronizing, but, since I am creating a single note to post to dozens of folks, with no idea of their level of knowledge about either the book, its authors, or how Library Thing works, my note must be written on an elementary level. Otherwise, I end up in dozens of follow-on exchanges with the less experienced. That's why I post these notes as 'private'. No one should be embarrased, and no one should take the tone personally."

You wrote to me that 'James Boswell is the author of Boswell's journals.' Surely it's safest to assume that anyone interested enough in Boswell's writings to own copies of them will have already worked this out.

"This is a volunteer effort, and I'm sure you would agree that preparing personal notes that hits the 'right tone' for LTers that I don't even know would make the job a bit overwhelming."

No, not really. As the recipient of lots of these notes (my library has a lot of Australian isbns from the 1960s and 70s in it, and they are 50% weird) it's pretty clear to me that it's not hard to strike the right tone. Plus, nobody is forcing you.

"Despite your suggestion to the contrary, [??] I also work to get Amazon data repaired as well. In fact, the Amazon entry for this work has been repaired as a result of my efforts, while yours, apparently, has not."

I think LT would be better off not using Amazon data at all. That's what I meant. There's plenty of real libraries yielding up data.

posted by lucytartan at 9:47 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2008

I don't mind being asked to fix up weird efflorescences in my catalogue, especially when said oddities derive from Amazon data, but it might be an idea to drop the patronising tone such requests invariably adopt. It's just a bit much to have the basic workings of LT explained to me as if I just rolled up here yesterday, or to be informed (eg) that "Primo Levi is the author of If This Is A Man, not Edgar Allan Poe". Might be a better plan to do something about the influx of Amazon bibliographical crappiness at the source, eh?

x x

Lucy

posted by lucytartan at 8:41 pm (EST) on Nov 8, 2007

oh my god! please stop asking me to JOIN GROUPS - I am already in all the groups i want to be in! (Unless I already know you from elsewhere.)

posted by lucytartan at 6:25 am (EST) on Dec 11, 2006

Just linked to your site from another LT site. I am always amazed that, regardless of where we are in the world, so many of us share similar titles.

-Rus

posted by rdixon98 at 1:56 pm (EST) on Sep 19, 2006

Allo yourself! This is all very exciting, isn't it? I'm managing to sneak in a few books every day, no matter what I'm doing, but there's a long way to go! I wonder how many books we'll match up?

posted by ampersand_duck at 5:35 pm (EST) on Aug 31, 2006

Can anyone recommend me something good to read?, not prententious but no Dan Brown please..

posted by euclideanspace at 10:35 am (EST) on Dec 29, 2005

Congratulations on winning the bookpile contest!

posted by hanz at 9:55 am (EST) on Dec 15, 2005

Re. tagging, I found the power-tagging tool very useful. And remember that you'll have to refrain from obtaining any new books during this 2 year period :-)

posted by Words at 8:08 am (EST) on Nov 17, 2005

Oh, I agree that Ordeal by Hunger is terrific; I was just surprised that someone in this (fairly small) universe owned it. I visited Donner State Park once; the tree stumps (10-12 feet high) are still visible.

posted by Linkmeister at 2:15 am (EST) on Oct 25, 2005

Somebody else owns George Stewart's Ordeal by Hunger. I'm astonished!

posted by Linkmeister at 2:00 am (EST) on Oct 19, 2005

Hi! Thanks for the compliment; I agree that Susan Stewart is a fascinating critic.

posted by meburste at 9:46 am (EST) on Oct 16, 2005

Hello hello!

posted by seabear at 8:59 am (EST) on Oct 1, 2005

The colgate_user tag is an idea for creating a local community within this community. But it's a bit too identifying perhaps for a public website, since other Colgate - oh, I get it, yu're thinking toothpaste! I'm talking University! Maybe it IS obscure enough!

And, yes, lissener as in Riddley Wlaker - though don't read too much into it - maybe it is telling, in that I feel at times that I'm blind about the analytical meaning of literature, but connect to the undercurrent. That's what I like about Russell Hoban.

posted by lissener at 7:45 pm (EST) on Sep 30, 2005