Incorrect authors on author pages

I first posted this elsewhere, and hope that this is the right place to see this problem repaired.

I have been meaning to return to this problem for ages. I first noticed this quite some time ago, and wasn't sure where to report it, or how it should be fixed. Bear with me, this is going to be long.

I noticed quite some time ago that one of the authors I liked has a genuine anomaly. It's become obscured as an issue because the author page is now:

http://www.librarything.com/author/morrisjanete

but it used to be:

http://www.librarything.com/author/morrisjanet-1

Now, here's what I believe to be her actual account:

http://www.librarything.com/profile/JanetMorris

The account linked to her, however, is this:

http://www.librarything.com/profile/MuseofHell

Here's the book that may have started this confusion:

http://www.librarything.com/work/12818172/book/88147519

The confusion may have been exacerbated by this second profile:

http://www.librarything.com/profile/janetemorris (which may or may not have been created by the Janet Morris that also created the janetmorris account).

I also point out that there's an author page for Sarah Hulcy (just to keep things nice and confusing). I do point out that, although she's listed as an author on one, and a contributor on the other, of the two books on her author page, she's a contributor on both. I suspect that the author listing on the one book may have been the initial point at which things became skewed, but all three accounts are not really active, who can say?

http://www.librarything.com/author/hulcysarah

At a minimum, I'd think that the "morrisjanet-1" and "morrisjanete" should both either point to the "JanetMorris" profile (or none). The "MuseofHell" profile should be corrected to point to the "hulcysarah" (I'd have updated that profile with her profile picture ages ago, but it clearly states that it's not for snagging).

I have no idea how all this became so confused, but it would be nice if some brave soul was interested in fixing it. I hope this isn't too confusing.

This question actually belongs in our group Combiners!, as it is not a bug.

Now, here's what I believe to be her actual account:

I agree.

The account linked to her, however, is this:

This must have been erroneously linked at some point.

(which may or may not have been created by the Janet Morris that also created the janetmorris account).

This is hard to tell--notice that this account is organizational, whereas the other is not. They might have been created with separate purposes at some point.

She already posted in combiners, but there is nothing members can do about the LT author listings, which is her main issue.

The author seems to be combined properly.

I've removed the fan the fan's author status who (likely accidentally) claimed it a few years back--if you notice others like this, don't by shy in sending me a pm.

>2 matthewmason: I originally posted this in Combiners but was told that it was something only staff could fix. While it isn't really a bug, it's an error, and there isn't really an easy or obvious place to put it. Should I have started a new thread on Combiners? Do staff folks monitor that group in the way they monitor this one? I ask this for future reference, mostly.

It's certainly a strange mix up; I don't think I've seen another like it here.

I'd also like to understand why I can't seem to add links to the "morrisjanete" page, which is now the formal page for janet morris (I added links on the "morrisjanet-1" page before they were combined). I find the links to the ISFDB very useful, when looking up things like covers, and specific editions, and imagine others do as well.

> 1

It's become obscured as an issue because the author page is now:

http://www.librarything.com/author/morrisjanete

but it used to be:

http://www.librarything.com/author/morrisjanet-1

What you are missing is that there are supposed to be two pages in this situation. The second page is a sub-page of the Janet Morris author page, which has been split because it contains multiple authors by that name. The works on that page by Janet E. Morris were aliased to the JEM author page. So it works as it's intended to work.

>6 lilithcat: Not a bug, in other words--a mistake in author approval, yes. Obliged for the clear alias explanation.

She wasn't wrong (if you're speaking of Sarah Hulcy, and I see you've corrected the author page, so you probably are). She should have selected contributor on both (I note she did on the one). I'll note that you've volunteered to be a contact for oddities that I find; I'd have probably just sent this off ages ago, but admit not thinking about there being a PM system here.

@MarthaJeanne is correct; the author is combined correctly (other than the confusion with Sarah Hulcy).

I'm just trying to understand why all the information isn't on the main profile. I suppose it must be one of those CK things...

When you say "main profile", are you referring to the author page, or the author's personal profile page?

This is her personal page, and only she can control what is on it. The Janet E. Morris page and Janet Morris (1) page can be edited by anyone. So if you feel there is information missing on one of those pages, go ahead and add it.

>6 lilithcat: I understand that there should be two pages, but am not positive I'm understanding which is the preferred main page. If I use a touchstone Janet Morris it consistently leads to the Janet E Morris page. It didn't when I first noticed the issues with Ms Hulcy, and I was glad to see it combined (since the authors now split out were all dumped together).

I can see now that things are sort of repaired, and yet I suggest, @matthewmason, that the author page ought to be the main one (the one the touchstone points to), and that it ought to point to the janetmorris profile rather than the janetemorris profile. I'd be willing to go into more detail than any sensible person wants to hear on why, if you like.

I see also that Sarah Hulcy still has a link that shows an author page, but that link now goes nowhere (rather than to Sarah Hulcy). Have I ever said how much I like touchstones? I really admire the concept.

> 10

The main page would be the Janet E. Morris page; the works from the sub-page are aliased to that one, so that all of her works catalogued on LT should appear there.

>9 lilithcat: I've tried several times to add links to the canonical author page (not the profile page for the author, and yes, I understand that profile accounts are not the same as author pages). I mentioned that I cannot seem to add links to this page. I edited the wikipedia link successfully, so I'm not sure what's up with it. I don't get an error message; the links just don't show up.

>13 Lyndatrue: I cannot seem to add links to this page

Maybe it's this bug. One apparently can't add the same exact link to two different author pages. For now, the work-around is to change something slight in the URL or the link text.

>12 lilithcat: Author profile janetemorris is now linked to author page, Janet E. Morris (there might be a wait).

---

>14 omargosh: Very odd.

>14 omargosh: You are officially my hero. Well, actually, everyone responding in this thread has been very kind and helpful, but this precise problem has flustered me before. I now understand why the wikipedia page on the main profile points to a different page than the sub-profile, and why I was able to edit that one, and yet not add the others.

I'll just delete the links from the sub-profile, wait a few minutes for the databases to sync up, and then add them to the main one. Works for me.

Aw, shucks, thanks. If only I had superhero power to actually get the bug fixed, haha.

>17 omargosh: We have some around, but they are off fighting the more threatening, city-destroying bugs, at the moment!