Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Hi!
Can a Superlibrarian please merge these two books?
1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

Please merge the second into the first! It seems like a librarian created the first one as an ACE of the second one but they have the same covers and are the same edition but the first now has better data (e.g. ISBNs and accurate page count) due to librarian updates.

I've noticed some intricacies with specific editions that merit careful consideration. I dedicated a substantial amount of time to comprehending the situation, mapping out all the changes. Regrettably, I might have unintentionally deleted some evidence during my initial exploration, but the majority remains accessible for review.

This encompasses four other editions, featuring three distinct covers and three separate ISBNs:
3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
4. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
5. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
6. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Notably, Editions #5 and #6 appear to have the same cover as do #1 and #2.

Edition #4 originated early on with ISBN 9781619636040, while Edition #6 was established with ISBN 9781639731008 and edition #3 with ISBN 9781619630659.

On Jan 12, 2023, a staff member transferred ISBN 9781619636040 to edition #5 and simultaneously created edition #2 and move ISBN 9781619630659 from edition #3 to edition #2.

Subsequently, on Feb 24, 2023, a librarian introduced edition #1 as an ACE to edition #2, relocating ISBN 9781619630659 to edition #1. This action seems peculiar, considering both editions share the same cover. From that point onward, edition #2 no longer bore an ISBN.

A significant alteration occurred on Jul 14, 2023. The staff member briefly moved ISBN 9781619636040 from edition #5 to edition #3 and then to edition #4 (its initial creation point). They also transferred 9781619630659 from edition #1 to edition #3, it's original place. ISBN 9781639730988 was assigned to edition #1, and ISBN 9781639731008 was shifted from edition #6 to edition #5, resulting in edition #6 being left without an ISBN.

Understanding the complexity, it's evident that proposing the merger of edition #2 into #1 is not a straightforward task. Furthermore, this request involves merging an edition with 133,000 ratings and over 276,000 shelf additions. Importantly, merging editions is an irreversible and potentially disruptive process. Drawing from past experiences, I've encountered instances where merging editions with a substantial number of shelves brought the entire database to a standstill for a few days.

Considering the staff's involvement in these changes, I suggest that the most appropriate course of action would be to seek their assistance in resolving these discrepancies. Addressing the issue directly with the original staff member responsible for the changes may prove beneficial. Additionally, staff can opt for a more cost-effective approach, such as moving one of the ISBNs to edition #2 (which has been added to shelves over 276,000 times). This would entail merging an edition added to 475 shelves instead, resulting in a significantly lower impact on the database.

In case this is of any interest to anyone, here is a table describing the history of changes, which should be self-descriptive.

Ah okay, thank you for taking the time to look into this David! So sorry that it turned out to be a more complicated time sink than I originally thought. :(

I think I'm going to just drop the request since it seems like there is a confusing tangle of editions and I'm sure the original staff member made those ISBN changes for a reason.

Thanks again for your effort in resolving this!