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

Hi, Everybody,

In general, we do not ever delete discussion threads here, and I don't like deleting members' comments, but there are some abandoned threads that make no sense to keep.

Often the querying member has deleted their Goodreads account. Sometimes they're even deleted their original question so we don't know any details of the book for which they were searching.

A couple examples:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/6...

Do any members have objections to our group mods deleting threads such as these, knowing that they may have comments that get deleted? If we delete these threads, it will save the time of members who search through old and abandoned threads to help members find books.

Please give your feedback.

If we get no compelling arguments against it, I'll happily delete these threads, and others like them.

Thank you for your feedback.

If the actual query is gone (deleted or removed when user deleted their account), or the user has left GR altogether, I don't see the point of keeping the thread.

I agree. I just want to check because members' posts will get deleted. The query is useless but some members seem to care about their posts. If no compelling argument is given for us to keep the threads, they'll go poof!

I'd agree. If the account is gone, go for it.

If it's an unsolved query with few answers, I say go for it. I assume that solved queries would not be deleted? Also, I would hate to see general request threads deleted because the OP was gone. Some of those are very useful or interesting.

I occasionally read through old threads to see if I recognize anything (I never have lol). But if the question is gone, there is no point. If the asker is gone, I am not sure there is any point either--there is certainly no helping them.

Snail in Danger (Sid) wrote: "I assume that solved queries would not be deleted? Also, I would hate to see general request threads deleted because the OP was gone. Some of those are very useful or interesting."

I agree with all of that, but I don't think the suggestion was meant to include either of those cases. Good to be sure, of course.

Are you trying to tempt me to make an Alien reference? Because if so, it's working. ;)

Actually, I disagree. If we keep Solved books, I think that queries that have enough information remaining should be kept, also, regardless of whether the original poster is gone.

It's a matter of the mission of the group - if we're just here to solve queries, why keep threads after they're solved and why shelve the book on the group bookshelf? If we're a resource, why delete informational threads?

I think the folders 'Query Abandoned by Poster' and/or 'Possibly Solved' work well.

I think that sometimes there is useful information in the comments. I agree with Cheryl in CC NV - if there is enough information remaining so that we can tell what was being looked for, then we should keep the comments. If no books or related books have been suggested, then maybe it should be deleted.

I'm not going to be a big help here ... on the one hand, if the OP has vanished off the face of the Earth, or at least goodreads.com, then I don't disagree with deleting the threads. On the other hand, even if we'll never know whether we've found the right book, I have noticed that sometimes people other than the original poster have added comments about one of those not the asked-for book sound interesting, and it prompts them to read something they might not have.

Now, I certainly understand that is outside the "mission" of the group here, but it's an interesting and unexpected resource.

The more that I consider this, the less I would support deleting the abandoned threads, actually. If this were a small, personally managed website that was short on storage space, I might think differently, but as a book lover's social network, I don't think a handful of threads make that much of a difference.

Maybe we need two shelves, one for queries that might be solved but the original poster has not returned to confirm, and another shelf for threads where the original poster (and sometimes their posts too) have disappeared.

Thoughts?

My only concern with keeping some orphaned threads is I don't want to take up the time of members who are dedicated and go back to old threads, including those in the abandoned folder, to help find the books. If the original post is missing, it's a waste of their time.

Re the 2 separate shelves, that would be a fair amount of work and wouldn't necessarily get done all at once.

Thanks for your thoughts. Feel free to keep them coming.

Lisa, I think separating the potentially solvable from the completely unsolvable is a good idea. In fact, I was typing up that very idea when I noticed your post.

For me, a lot of the fun of this group is either solving a book or finding out what the sought-after book is. If I know that there will never be confirmation (such as when the op deletes their account), I usually just skip even looking at that thread because I can't help and I'll never be able to know if anyone else's suggestions are right. So my vote goes for:

Delete thread--If
1) the op has deleted their Goodreads account and 2) there are also no book suggestions in the replies. (Otherwise, it's just a random summary.)

Delete thread--If the original query is gone, because
a) members no longer know much, if anything, about the book that was being sought, and
b) there will never be confirmation of a solved book. (Why keep answers when no one even knows the question? Mods could still discuss potential deletions that may be a judgment call.)

Threads that fall outside the deletion scenarios I mentioned above but that are nevertheless completely unsolvable (e.g., due to deletion of op's Goodreads account) could go into their own folder--"Now We'll Never Know," or somesuch. That way the browsers can still browse, and the current "Abandoned" folder could be kept for those that are still potentially solvable since the op still has an account and may show up again one of these days. A thread like this http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4... would be the perfect candidate for a "Now We'll Never Know" folder because it only half fulfills the deletion scenario--the op's account is gone, but there are a lot of book suggestions in the replies.

Abigail wrote: "could go into their own folder--"Now We'll Never Know," or somesuch. That way the browsers can still browse, and the current "Abandoned" folder could be kept for those that are still potentially solvable since the op still has an account and may show up again one of these days."

I love the folder name "Now We'll Never Know" and I do think this would be the best solution.

I have no time to do this in the next few weeks, or longer. If other mods want to pitch in...???

And, if we do have a Now We'll Never Know folder I actually don't see any reason to delete any thread. I do think that folder should be down at the very bottom of all the folders.

Loving the Now We'll Never Know folder, at the bottom. I'll see what I can do, but I doubt I'll be able to do much until early August as I've got big plans for the early summer.

Enjoy your early summer, Cheryl!

I will try to work on it but I've been swamped for months and I'm not sure when I'll get enough breaks.

Maybe we could at least start the folder and add at least one thread to it. Then, we can move them over gradually....

If someone wants to post a couple thread links (again, sorry) here I can do that this week. Thanks.

Thank you Abigail for the great folder name!

>> "Loving the Now We'll Never Know folder" & "Thank you Abigail for the great folder name!" No prob. Glad you liked it! :)

I've been going through the old Unsolved posts recently to see if I could solve any, and don't have any problem bumping as I see them threads whose original posters have deleted their accounts. That way, they would be in the first page (or two or three) for you mods to be able to find easily and refile as you have the time. If this would be helpful, just say the word.

Thanks, Abigail. Yes, that would be helpful. I'll wait until I'll add the folder right before I add the first thread. Folders aren't even visible if there are no threads in them anyway. Thank you! Doing this should help members put their efforts where it's likely to do some good.

I like the idea of having a "Now We'll Never Know" folder. My slightly obsessive characteristic has been annoyed with the Unsolved and Query Abandoned posts where the OP is gone. And yet I didn't want to just delete all such threads. Now we'll have a place specifically identified for these posts. I'll certainly help with the task of getting things into new categories. From my feel of the group, no one is going to complain if this doesn't get done in a flash.

I do think we could delete threads where there's only 1-2 posts with the OP deleted. There aren't many of them, and there's not really any information that needs to be preserved.

Kate wrote: "From my feel of the group, no one is going to complain if this doesn't get done in a flash.

I do think we could delete threads where there's only 1-2 posts with the OP deleted. There aren't many of them, and there's not really any information that needs to be preserved. "

I agree with your first statement.

I'm okay with your second statement, although I'm also fine with putting those in the "Now We'll Never Know Folder."

I don't have strong feelings about deleting them. The new folder will be a good place for them.

I just made a "Now We'll Never Know" folder and placed the first thread thread, one with the OP showing as a deleted member.

Kate wrote: "I just made a "Now We'll Never Know" folder and placed the first thread thread, one with the OP showing as a deleted member."

Thanks, Kate!!! The mods can add threads as we find them. I love this idea. Thanks for all the feedback, everybody.

I'll be moving more threads to the abandoned by poster, when the poster is still a member at Goodreads but has not returned to the thread.

When/if I have time I might message those people, with a link to their threads, but any member here please feel free to message MIA members.

I'm sorry, but the responses here seem to be overthinking a matter than doesn't need to be overthought. Is there a practical matter to delete these threads? They fall far down the list chronologically. If die hard peeps want to delve further to try to solve book mysteries, why not let them? Plus, a lack of "no, it's not that" comments doesn't mean a query is abandoned, it just means the original poster hasn't responded. Also, other people may be following the comments on that thread who haven't posted to it.

Finally, more time should be better spent asking those posters who are looking for any kinds of books in certain genres or with certain plots to form a new group set up specifically for that kind of query (e.g. "I want titles of books that have to deal with children growing up in poverty who are later abused but fall in love with successful people, who later wind up to be abusers or live on deserted islands...")

Christy, Normally I'd agree with you, for most groups. In this group, many members seem to look at old threads to see if they can help find the books, and I think it's fair to let them know which threads are truly active and which are abandoned. Some choose to try to solve them all anyway, but this way they have a choice to pass over threads where we're unlikely to ever know if we've helped the original poster.

" Also, other people may be following the comments on that thread who haven't posted to it."

I don't think that moving the thread would unhook the followers... ?

No, moving a thread won't do that. People will still be following the thread no matter what folder it's in.

I'm all for deleting abandoned threads, if the poster doesn't care anymore why should I?

Kris, the issue for which this topic was started has been resolved - we have assorted folders to which we move Unsolved queries so nobody has to see them unless they're extra-interested.

Janosch, it might have been better to start a new discussion rather than re-open such an old one. And in fact, if you want to pursue this further, you probably should. But I'd rather just say this:

You're right that it's frustrating when some queries are for books the requester could have found on their own with a simple google search, or a look through their mom's bookshelves, or whatever. But for a number of reasons we are unlikely to implement such instructions. One reason is that requestors can't even be bothered to read the 'how to post for a book' thread carefully enough to post something other than 'please help!!' in the subject line. Iow, we're here to help those who can't help themselves, as well as the truly baffled. It's ok.

Thanks for your feedback, both of you!