"Rules" for abouts...

Now that abouts work, and considering that anyone can edit them, maybe it's time to consider what is and what is not a good "about." Here are my thoughts:

1. Add an "about" if a topic touches on a book, author or series in a substantial way.
2. The topic doesn't need to be ONLY about the book, to be about the book from the beginning or etc.
3. About should not be used when the question only concerns a bug or a combination issue.
4. About should not be used on giant "what are you reading" threads, which of course does touch on books, but touch MANY books.
5. When in doubt, keep others' work.

What do you think?

I posted this on another thread and was directed here where it might be more appropriate.

I've noticed several cases where a book discussion has the About for that work set but also the About for the author. Shouldn't the author touchstone only be used when the author is being discussed and not just a work by that author?

ETA: Like this one, http://www.librarything.com/topic/12907

#1

I think that that is a reasonable set of rules of thumb.

#2

I think I would only add an About for the author if the discussion was about the author as well as the work.

#2 & #3 - I disagree. What if you're searching for all discussions of works by a certain author? You'd have to search each of them by title. A search of Alexander Dumas should yield a list of all LT discussions of his works, IMHO.

#2 by @jjwilson61> I agree - I'd prefer to see 'about' authors added only when the thread is about the author rather than a work (for example, 'what is your favorite Andre Norton?' or 'Is Dean Koontz really horror?').

I'd also rather /not/ see abouts for every book listed in those threads - in general and in most cases, author or book, not both.

#4 by @clamairy> 'Books by Your Authors' covers that pretty well, I think.

I feel like the 'authors' toggle really ought to show you threads that give you a good idea of an author's work as a whole or something major going on with the author (death, interview, etc).

I have waffled a few times over topics like 'What do you think of the Wheel of Time series?', where a series 'about' is clearly appropriate but the series in question is also the bulk of the author's work. Thoughts?

Here's another good question I've been wondering: is it useful to mark abouts for books the 'Name That Book' group positively identifies?

>6 Aerrin99: I would think so, yes. After it has, as you say, been positively identified.

#5 - "'Books by Your Authors' covers that pretty well, I think."

Say what? Books by my authors is only going to show the discussions of books by my authors if an author 'about' has been added to the threads where their works are being discussed. And you're saying you don't want that 'about' added. Am I missing something? Is there another link to discussion of books my authors somewhere?

#8 by @clamairy>

No, 'books by your authors' shows discussions of all books by your authors, so long as the /book/ about has been added. What you're describing is what 'Your Authors' does. Tim's designed it so we get the best of both worlds!

Poke around a bit at the options under 'Your Books' and I think you'll see what I mean.

It looks like this:

Your books - Topics about specific books which you have in your catalog
Your authors - Topics about authors for whom you have at least one work in your catalog.
Books by your authors - Topics about specific books which are by authors you have in your catalog (not neccessarily /books/ you have in your catalog).
Your series - Topics about series for which you have some books in your catalog.

#6, @Aerrin99: "is it useful to mark abouts for books the 'Name That Book' group positively identifies?"

I've just come from there and wondered whether to add an about, but decided against. I think we need to decide on a case by case basis there. Sometimes there's quite a bit of discussion about the book, but other times people correctly identify a book from very little information, and it's hardly right to drag someone in who was looking for a real discussion.

I wouldn't be too strict about the work/author distinction. Surely a focused discussion of one particular Agatha Christie book doesn't need her added as an author too, but a discussion of Suetonius' lives of the Roman Emperor's could have both--the work is, like all ancient authors, somewhat splintered, and Suetonius' other works are slight, fragmentary and the province of scholars only. When someone says "hey, have you read Suetonius?" they almost surely mean the work.

Anyway, I wouldn't sweat this too much. If it matters, I'm going to add some way to "ignore" a work or author for the purposes of this feature.

#9 - Yes, that's the link I was talking about. For me it yields many pages of results that cannot be sorted by author. For example, I would like to be able to to go to Annie Dillard's page and find all the discussions of her books there. I think I have wrongly assumed that a discussions link would be added to each author's page, like we have now for individual work.

(Edited for missing word.)

>12 clamairy:

Yes, coming. The new Talk tab system isn't in place yet on:

1. Group pages
2. Works
3. Authors

Tim

11> If it matters, I'm going to add some way to "ignore" a work or author for the purposes of this feature.

Yes please. I'm getting dozens (if not hundreds) of J. K. Rowling discussions, because I have one Harry Potter book listed. It would be much easier just to exclude the author than to ignore each thread individually.

#13 - "Yes, coming."

Oh! Great! I was afraid I'd dreamed it...

But I have to ask, which links will you be adding to the author's pages? Every discussion of each of his/her works, or only the links where an author 'about' has managed to stick? LOL Or will you add both? (I personally would like to see both, because then can I see the point of distinguishing between which threads garner an author 'about.')

#13 by @timspalding>

4. Series?

But I have to ask, which links will you be adding to the author's pages? Every discussion of each of his/her works, or only the links where an author 'about' has managed to stick? LOL Or will you add both? (I personally would like to see both, because then can I see the point of distinguishing between which threads garner an author 'about.')

Yes.

What if you're searching for all discussions of works by a certain author? You'd have to search each of them by title. A search of Alexander Dumas should yield a list of all LT discussions of his works, IMHO.

A search?

Don't worry. I'll add all book mentions to author pages.

#17 - I'm not worried. Do I look worried? 0.0

Thank you for your patience, BTW.