It seems odd to me that a book is appearing in the list of automatic recommendations (not the user recommendations) for me, but when I look at the book and check the "Will you like it?" meter it has a very high certainty that I probably won't like it. So, it's recommended, but it's not? The specific case is The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon.

Also, it isn't very useful that 54 of the first 64 books recommended are ones that I already have in my library. And that pattern is repeated throughout the list, although the deeper I go the ratio of owned to unowned books gets a little better. I'd prefer it if the list didn't recommend things that I already own. I'd understand if some of those books were recent additions that the recommender hadn't updated its list since they were added, but all of them have been in my library for years.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 10:58am.

I have no answer for you about the discrepancy between "recommendations" and "will you like it" - apparently they work on a different model. Maybe that's a good thing, otherwise one of them would be redundant.

As for the recommended books that are already in your library - there seems to be a bug at the moment: http://www.librarything.com/topic/66676#...

Message edited by its author, Jun 13, 2009, 6:05pm.

I don't know that it would serve any useful purpose but I wish there was a way to tell the "will you like it?" system when it's wrong. It is rather annoying to have it tell me of books in my library, books that I loved, "you won't like it". And be unable to correct it in any way. It's not a major issue or anything but I find it irksome.

I have no clue how the "Will you like it" system works, but logically I would think it relates to your star ratings... Maybe if you star the books you love, it will improve?

Not a clue, but yes, it would be nice if that system could learn.

#4 From what I remember, and I could be very very wrong, it looks at your library's relationship to other libraries that contain the book. If there is a high percentage of crossover they think you are more likely to like the book. Which works fine for books in genres that are strongly represented by your library. But if for example, you're like me and enjoy lots of science fiction and fantasy but also like books on architecture or poetry or whatever, it's not so helpful when most other libraries containing lots of architecture books lack that large helping of scifi.
As a result I get the system telling me I wont like books on certain subjects when I have several in my library because most libraries that also contain them don't have fantasy novels too.

Makes the whole thing less useful because it will only recognize the most obvious possibilities.

Although I could be wrong about how it works. It was a long time ago I read anything about how the system functioned.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 4:32am.

I've found the "will you like it" thing amusing, but utterly useless. It tells me I'll love books that I hate and that I'll hate books that I love.

Somewhere there's an explanation by Tim of how "will you like it" works — if I can find it I'll give you a link. Tim's explanation. Anyway, stars have nothing to do with it. It's somehow based on what proportion of the libraries most like yours contain the book.

It's just a bit of fun, sometimes it's really funny (to me) what strange predictions come up.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 7:10am.

I don't rely on either recommendations, or will you like it.
I too, find will you like it amusing, and sometimes play with it to pass time.
Recommendations here or anywhere just don't make the grade for me. My tastes are very eclectic. I wish there was a way to tell it ( everywhere!) that I do not like that author, or if I have 5 books on this subject, I don't feel that I need more, thank you.

I do look at rec's and sometimes find something I like there, but mostly I find them either amusing, or irksome. Everywhere. I rely on people here more than anything, now to suggest good books.

Some time ago there was someone who wanted recommendations turned off completely. I wonder if that is possible now, by unchecking the "include" box for all collections.

"Will you like it?" works as "How statistically likely is it that this book is in your library?" I believe Tim compared it to a mood ring. It doesn't take ratings into account at all. I don't know if it's supposed to do anything special with collections. Using "include in recommendations" and/or "include in connections" as an indication of likedness might make it a little more accurate.

My understanding of automatic recommendations is that it should find the books most likely to be in the same library with those of your books you have checked with "include in recommendations" (and no others), excluding from the results all the books you've listed. At the moment that last part seems to be broken.

Why turn it off for heavens sake? Just don't look at it? :D

That person (not me) had reasons. I'm just wondering if it's possible; it might make someone happy.

I guess, when the bugs are dealt with, excluding every one of your collections from recommendations should leave you with no recommendations.

So, for one person, or a few~ site owners should work out code for turning off a function , just so they don't have to not look at it? Sorry, but that seems to be a lot to ask. Not even in the I want a pony category, but I want a real live purple dragon category.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 8:37am.

14: What you say has all been said when it originally came up. Nobody is asking for it now, as far as I know. All I'm saying is that it might now be possible - without any extra code - simply because of how collections work, and that this might still make the person(s) who originally asked for it happy.

Message edited by its author, Jun 14, 2009, 8:55am.

Could suppressing recommendations cut down on transmitted information enough to matter for people with slow connections?

16: If so, then only on the recommendations page itself, I think.

Jimroberts, thanks for the link to the details of "will you like it". Although now I think it is even odder that the two come up with different answers, as I thought that the recommendations was pretty much based on how likely a book is to be in a library similar to your own. It sounds like "will you like it" is just adding a couple of dimensions to the recommendation - how much, and how probable.

Its a fun feature, but I use the user recommendations more because they have a much better chance of telling me something I don't know.

Hmm. Maybe something along the lines of recommended books, but based on author instead? A lot of times the recommendations for a book are other books by the same author. Which isn't very surprising, but also not very useful unless the author has some wildly varying books. But perhaps pointing out other authors might open up some interesting connections.

I never base my judgment on it, but I will use it in case of a more expensive book - meaning, in case of doubt, I will first try to find a library copy or something like that...

Now that the bug has been fixed, I can confirm that leaving the "include in recommendations" box unchecked for all collections results in no automatic recommendations at all. Member recommendations are another story.

*goes to check the box again*

18. A lot of times the recommendations for a book are other books by the same author.

There was a time when recommendations could be filtered to remove works by authors in your library. This was left out when the recommendation engine was overhauled.

10. My understanding of automatic recommendations is that it should find the books most likely to be in the same library with those of your books you have checked with "include in recommendations" (and no others), excluding from the results all the books you've listed.

I believe it's a little different than this. It's not just based on shared books, but rather an aggregation of the "LibraryThing recommendations" found on the work pages for all of the works in your catalog. The "LibraryThing recommendations" themselves are a combination of "People with this book also have..." (more common and more obscure), "Special sauce," "Books with similar tags," and "Books with similar library subjects and classifications." What 235711 said about the new inclusion system with collections and the fact that books in your catalog are excluded from the results is correct.

I find that the tag engine can create some really strange matches. If you've ever run into Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything or Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins it's because an incredible variety of tags have been entered for those works and they end up matching on similar tags for too many books. The LC subject matches are usually decent, but the fact that they are the only available recommendations for books with few users (less than 10?, 15?) tends to skew some of the results.

There was also a time when you could see the aggregate "People with this book also have..." recommendations separately from the others. I found these to be more useful than the current combo system.

And from 18 again. now I think it is even odder that the two come up with different answers
The recommendations page only requires that a few of your books have a strong link to the recommended book. And as I note above it may not even be a shared book type link. "Will you like it?" is based whether your most similar libraries, based on all of your books, are more likely to have the book in question. If one type of book tends to dominate in the calculation of your similar libraries "Will you like it?" will probably do poorly for any other type of book.

On a strictly anecdotal level, I have found that when Will you like it? and Recommendations are in conflict, Will you like it? is more accurate in my case.