Bring back the ability to see book overlaps on all profiles

Anyone remembers this, it was a function of "members with your books" module (now Similar Libraries), and it was the best way to discover interesting books. For example, if you looked at the list on Person's 1 on your weighted list (so a library likely of high interest to you), and then looked at their overlaps with other members, it was bound to bring up tons of interesting stuff.

Nothing expressed the attraction of "eerily similar libraries", as the LT advert had it, better than this function.

It's been gone... I guess for several years now, but we were told it would come back. Instead, there's now only the number of overlapping books on hover-over, which as far as I can see is of zero interest whether regarding one's own and even less other people's overlaps.

It's usually annoying to lose a function, and this one of all things was one of the major points of the social side LT. So can we have it back, please?

>1 LolaWalser: I wanted to echo this request as I absolutely loved this ability. Today I went all over LT and couldn't find it ! Please bring this feature back as I have created several friends because of this ability.

It's still available. I have "Members with your books" (which I agree is a great functionality) under Home/About You https://www.librarything.com/home#aboutyou

>3 Felagund:

No, it isn't. Read >1 LolaWalser: for what is missing.

Sorry if I misunderstood your point! I still don't see exactly what you mean... for me "Members with your books" => Weighted => (1st member profile) => "Similar libraries" sounds more or less like your request. Can you point out more precisely where I got it wrong?

>5 Felagund:

The situation NOW: "Members with your books" lists contain a list of hyperlinks that lead to member profiles. On those profiles, you can scroll down to visualize the books you and that member have in common.

The situation BEFORE: "Members with your books" lists showed not just other members' handles but the number of books you shared with them, and this number was hyperlinked (meaning you could jump directly to the books you shared). MOREOVER, once you were on another member's profile page, their overlaps with other members were ALSO available to you. And it's THIS that opened up a gajillion new views to books that might be highly interesting to you.

For example, say that Tom and Harry both figure high on your weighted list. Right now, you can identify (relatively easily) only those books that you share with Tom, and those books that you share with Harry. Previously, if Tom or Harry also appeared on each other's weighted lists, you could easily identify the books THEY shared--including those that YOU didn't have. Clearly, assuming that Tom's and Harry's libraries are of interest to you, this particular subset of books might be of highest interest. (Of course, knowing what books you all have in common might be of equal interest, I'm just giving an example.)

This has been made impossible. The clickable numerical overlaps are gone, and with them the possibility to study the books other members share with each other.

Thanks, I understand now. I agree that this would be useful!

>7 Felagund:

No problem! The sad thing is, this is what we used to have for a decade plus!

I remember it, but I have never really used the numbers - I'm using similar libraries mostly as a tool to identify book combination opportunities, i.e. stray books that I can probably recognize with enough certainty since the other user's collection matches my own interests. But you're making a good point, indeed.

>9 Felagund:

Well, previously we had book combinations to the nth degree. Each of ours "MWYB" are limited to about a hundred members and that's it. For many libraries that are either very eclectic or unusual in some aspect, it's rare that even the weighted list actually renders lists that are 100% interesting. So it's extremely limited and reduced, in comparison to what we had. You could jump from, say, your top overlap to that member's top overlap and so on ad infinitum.

ETA: ah, you're talking about combining. Yeah, different thing.

Indeed. For your use case, the absence of numbers is clearly a significant weakness, and not so much for mine: that might have biased my reading of the first post! After your explanation, I agree that the request makes a lot of sense.

You can access catalog overlap with the following URL (using Felagund and LolaWalser as examples):

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=Felagund&compare=LolaWalser

>12 saltmanz:

Thanks for noting that, it's been mentioned in the past... however, it's quite a bit more work than just clicking the available (when it was available) overlap. And because of that, it also feels unduly... obsessive?

I just want back a feature we USED to have and were told we'd have again.

Seconded

Yes, I loved that feature. So, please!

Okay, tell me what you think?

It looks quite nice on a brief look.

I wish, though, that pressing the hash sign would stick. I don't expect I'll actively want not to have it activated on any regular basis.

Also, a pony: in the catalogue view, where it says "Special: Showing the 67 books timspalding shares with AndreasJ", it'd be nice if the usernames were links to the profiles.

>19 AndreasJ:

Pony granted.

Oooh, Nice! I did miss this feature, but it was a low level miss. I will definitely be using it again.

>20 timspalding:

Thanks :)

Any hope for stickiness?

>20 timspalding:

Thanks again! Good old pony!

>17 AndreasJ: I've never paid much if any attention to AboutYou > Members with Your Books , but after skimming through this thread I've peeked. (Note that I've been on LT for 5.5 months, so lots of the thread is before my time!)

What is this hashtag supposed to do? I click it, it gets a thin red dashed outline that doesn't disappear when I click again; it only disappears if I reload the page or click a different statistical choice (Weighted/Raw/Recent). But in any event I don't see any obvious change to the names or numbers when it's clicked.

>24 LeslieWx: It shows the number of books shared in parenthesis

>25 SandraArdnas: It shows the number of books shared in parenthesis

But that number shows whether I hit the "#" button or not.

>26 LeslieWx:

Then at least one of us is experiencing a bug because I only see the numbers if the button is pressed.

>27 AndreasJ: Yeah, I don't see numbers without it either. Is there perhaps some other place than the profile page to see this? Perhaps it behaves differently there then

>27 AndreasJ: at least one of us is experiencing a bug because I only see the numbers if the button is pressed
>28 SandraArdnas: I don't see numbers without it either

Ahhhh. Let me do a little more careful testing ...

>25 SandraArdnas:, >26 LeslieWx:

Just to clarify what has changed (been brought back, actually) -- the "number" is now clickable and takes you to that subset of shared books.

Testing done; written up and submitted at https://www.librarything.com/topic/373584

I've made the "#" stick between pages. And I fixed that bug. Thanks.

>32 timspalding:

Thanks!