What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

We now have a folder for "Group Suggestions" as well as a folder "Just to Chat"

Let me know what you think.
~Rebecca

Having folders to move the solved ones to definitely helps.

I think having all the unsolved ones in one folder (rather than splitting THEM out by YA, adult, non-fiction) is probably the right decision too, since a lot of people are only going to 'see' discussions in the topmost folder.

So two thumbs up.

Rebecca, Thanks for doing all of the organization. I like it exactly as is.

All members, Since only a few posts can show in each folder as default, in this general folder, don't forget to click on view all in the general folder to see all the requests for help posts since our last visits. I had to do this just for since last evening. But that's ok as accustomed to it now in all the groups.

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm still working on sorting out older posts, since a lot of them are solved and just never had the topic line changed to indicate that they're solved.

I created an "Other--SOLVED" folder as well, which I've been using for short stories, authors, poetry or other random inquiries.

Ideally, I'd like to end up with a really well organized, accessible bookshelf as well. I think it would be a great tool considering there have been several posts about the same book, people have been inspired by threads to read certain books, etc. However, I don't want to put in the effort of listing and shelving all our "solved" books unless it will be something people actually use.

So,
1) Do you guys want to maintain bookshelves?
2) If so, what shelves would you like have?
3) Would anyone else be willing to help with the process?

Hi Rebecca,

What about shelves that match the SOLVED folders?

I'd be willing to help. I'm on Goodreads quite a bit and in this group reasonably frequently. I know that as a moderator you can set it so that anyone can add books. So I could help with that. I've made shelves and shelved books for my book club group at here at Goodreads.

I'm confused though. I just went into one of my posts here as though to edit, and it doesn't look as though I can change its folder, and I cannot change the folders (when books get found) for anyone else either. Guess just moderators can do this.

But, what kind of help would be useful? Guess we could add moderators. I'd be willing to be one.

I might have occasional gaps in my participation at Goodreads, although I did join 10 months ago and that hasn't happened yet.

Anyway, Rebecca, what kind of help from members here would be most useful?

Edit: Ugh. And this reminded me. Just added a book to the bookshelf here that was found for me and that I'd forgotten to add!

Thanks, Rebecca! Much easier to find stuff now. :)

thank u. im very happy to be in this group.. all hail REBECCA! *SALUTE

*STARTS MARCHING

I added an UNSOLVED folder to deal with the issue of new book queries getting filed under the Group Suggestions folder. I think things might run a little more smoothly if we transition into posting all new book queries in the UNSOLVED folder instead of the general folder.

Once your post is solved please move it to the appropriate SOLVED folder so we can keep our new UNSOLVED folder clutter-free.

Thanks :)

"So,
1) Do you guys want to maintain bookshelves?
2) If so, what shelves would you like have?
3) Would anyone else be willing to help with the process?"

I would definitely be willing to help with the process! I'd love to sort through some of the threads in General and move them over the the appropriate folders. I'd also be more than happy to add "solved" books to the shelves while I'm at it.
I think I have to have moderator privileges in order to be able to move any of the threads to different folders though.
If you don't mind making me a mod. I'd certainly be willing to help out with some of the organization and sorting!

i'd love to help too! its frustrating to sort through so many entries looking for unsolved ones!

Thanks guys, I've added you three to the moderators list. Feel free to sort and shelve at will! Just make sure you don't hit 'delete group' HAHA!

Thanks Rebecca! And thank you for creating the best Goodreads group!

Oh, no problem! I'm glad other people want to help out. There came a point where I just got so overwhelmed by it all that it seemed like this system was hopeless, but at least it's still functioning. I really like this group, too! It wouldn't work without so many dedicated members, I'm glad we can all help each other out.

:)

Once we get caught up, and it will take hours I can tell as I've already worked on things for over an hour today, it will be fairly easy to keep everything here organized. I"m hoping all the moderators help out as it's many hours of work. I'm willing to work on it some most days.

Once we get caught up, I can check most days and then it won't be that time consuming. Especially with 4 of us. it's too much work for one person, unless we can get most posters to change titles, folders, and add their found books to the bookshelves.

Sorry to be so helpless but could you tell me how to move a folder. My mystery book has been solved. I have been trying to edit it to change the title to SOLVED but can't.

Thanks,

Carmen

Carmen,

Thanks for asking!

When you go to that thread, at the end of the topic title, at the end of it there is an "(edit)" link. Click on that and you'll find a drop down menu. There are various SOLVED folders depending on the type of book. Select the correct one from the drop down menu.

Also, while you're there, put your cursor in front of the topic title and key in SOLVED!: before the topic title.

Thanks so much.

If you're still having problems doing this, post again with a link to the thread and I'll gladly do the edits for you.

Thank you

I just wanted to tell you all that I am so impressed by the "What's the Name of that Book?" That is: the group members dedication, time and labor in selflessly trying to help solve book titles for others.

I am amazed that my mystery book was solved in less than 24 hours last week! I thought it was near impossible, but along came someone who read and remembered the details and provided the title in what may be record time.

I hope that someday I can similarly help someone else.
But some of you readers have stunningly longer book lists than mine, which can help solve these mysteries for others.

Keep up the good work! Thanks again to all.

Gwen Haaland

Gwen, Yes, This is probably my favorite group on Goodreads. I've helped others find books and I've found a few (a couple really old and esoteric and challenging!!!) because of help from members here. It's so wonderful to find a long long book, or even a book recently read that we can't remember and want to find again. Rebecca was inspired for thinking of this group.

This group does offers a great service to GR members. It helped me find a book for a patron and helped me find a short story I've been searching years for.

Keep up the good work!

Tressa, It's been really helpful to me also (I've found a few long lost books) and it's also a real thrill to help someone else find a book.

Jack, go to group settings and scroll to the bottom of the page. You should see "delete this group".

Thanks so much Rivka. Glad you got the information you needed Jack. Enjoy this group! Rebecca (and you!) had a wonderful idea for a group such as this.

Hi guys. This might be a stupid suggestions, but I was wondering if you ever considered making more unsolved folders by genre, or you think it's gonna make the group too messy??

For example. I don't read a lot of YA books, so I would prefer to look at only sci-fi requests or non fiction requests.

It seems the most popular genres are children books, YA, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, and books published 70s and 80s and a lot are not categorized.

If you do, children's/young adult should go together, science fiction/fantasy together. Though sometimes there are children's/YA books that are sci-fi or romance which can make it difficult to categorize. To be honest I think all the unsolved in one folder is fine, and you can go through the pages over time. With the search function, search a keyword to only bring up topics you are interested in ...
There's another book search forum with categories and a lot get misplaced and don't get noticed soon enough. Editing topic lines of posts would be a help too. There's a lot in history that could be edited, as these topic lines show up in the emails. There's a few Deleted Members that ought to go in that folder you have for those, that you'll never know, whatever it's called. Didn't notice it until a short while ago, and thought abandoned fit since they are, in effect, abandoned.

Are there links at the page top to the different folders?

Is it possible for the book title and author to be spelt out in text in posts when making suggestions? I noticed some where the image had disappeared and it wasn't clear what book was being suggested. Also the book covers are teensy tiny and not practical on a small device such as a phone where it is easier to stay on the one page than wait for another page to load. Seeing the author with the title helps with quick identification of the book. A link is useful yes, but more useful to have the information in text form too. When I use a phone I tend to have images off, so text helps in place of images that don't appear.

The folders were a great idea. Thanks! Just noticed them when I was adding in a new question.

Some good things for us moderators to consider - thanks for your input, all.

I like the idea of being organized, but given that we can't have 'select multiple' functions, where indeed would we put, for example, that sci-fi w/ romance that the questioner can't remember whether it was adult or YA?

We're already sometimes flipping a coin on whether an old query goes in Abandoned or Possibly Solved, cuz it fits both....

I think we're pretty much as organized as we can be, right now. However, suggestions are welcome!

And yes, bkl, when I provide a link, I use the 'title' choice, not the 'cover image' choice because I know that folks on mobile devices have troubles. In fact, most of the links in this group are the titles. If you're seeing a lot of images in this group, maybe there's a bug somewhere en route to your phone...?

No that was just when browsing on the computer I noticed a lot of cover images that didn't help unless you put the mouse cursor over it, which isn't possible by phone. I have images off on the phone so pages load faster.

I agree and as mentioned above I don't see benefit of separate unsolved folders. Some confusion when categories cross.

If a book is obviously correct, put it in possibly solved rather than abandoned. Easy enough to prove whether it's correct by checking reviews on Google books, Kirkus reviews, publishers weekly, etc. Your own knowledge, if you've read the book, or seen the same query elsewhere.

I agree with Cheryl that adding folders makes our assignments of books more arbitrary. I'd hate for books to get lost because one searcher is looking in romance and another is looking in science fiction for the same book. I recommend sticking with the folders we have for the time being.

and for bkl, I rarely put the cover in a comment because sometimes it's hard to read the title on the mini-cover. I'm glad to know there's another reason to always list the title. I do put the cover up when someone describes the cover, but I will now also put the title.

I prefer to see both title and author when you suggest books (pretty please?) due to the same title having different authors, often. It just saves me having to click through all the time. :)

Kate wrote: "I rarely put the cover in a comment because sometimes it's hard to read the title on the mini-cover. "

Amen. I don't even read posts where someone has just stuck a bunch of tiny covers - unless they stick them in as a large jpeg (which I will sometimes do if someone has specifically reference the cover art).

bkl wrote: "If a book is obviously correct, put it in possibly solved rather than abandoned. ."

This seems fair.

Just wondering if there could be some kind of 'question' folder, where people can ask specific questions about books/authors/series?

You could put such questions in the folder Just To Chat.

bkl wrote: "You could put such questions in the folder Just To Chat."

oh yeah forgot about that folder. Thanks