Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Sometimes I would like to add a link to another book, a series or a Lystopia list in the description. If I try to do so, I get the "no hyperlinks unless they are on Goodreads' warning. the system says that I cn add a goodreads link, but doesn't let me. How do I format one of those "show' links so that the system lets me include them?

For examplesince the different volumes the "Best in Children's books" anthologies are merely a thematic collection by the publisher, there can be no series page. I am in the process of adding to the Lystopia list that I created.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1....
Since there isn't a hyperlink for a series, I would like to include a link to the list in the description. Currently I am unable to here is one that I have "in hand" that I just edited.

Please always check if there is a Listopia already. In this case there is, with 44 books.

You can find Listopias at the bottom of the book page, so there is no need for a link in the description. Scroll down to 'Lists with this book, from our members': https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Links to lists and other books should not be placed in the description. The description is for a description of the book.

see:

https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...

Actually, Goodreads does not prohibit a link in a description, as long as the link is to another spot within Goodreads. As the Librarian Manual says, "The description field should not include any images or links to EXTERNAL SITES." [Emphasis mine.]

In this case, there's a goofy error that's caused by the punctuation in a valid Goodreads link.

((( GORY DETAILS: Some Goodreads links contain an underscore ( _ ) between the ID and the name, and others contain a period ( . ) as the separator. Unfortunately, Goodreads flags any URL with a period as invalid, even if it's a GR link. It shouldn't do this, but it does. END OF GORY DETAILS )))

Luckily, there is a work-around. For a link to a book, you can use this undocumented link syntax: [ book : the-title ] or [ book : random text | bookID ]. Except you have to remove all the spaces in my bolded example. (I had to add spaces so that the info would actually appear in this post-- otherwise, it's interpreted as a link, even in this post.) Note that you can see the book ID and hyphenated-title-text in the URL when you're looking at a book record.

The same thing works for author links -- just replace book with author and use the author name or author ID (which you can see in the URL of an author profile).

Julie wrote: "Sometimes I would like to add a link to another book, a series or a Lystopia list in the description. If I try to do so, I get the "no hyperlinks unless they are on Goodreads' warning. the system s..."

And those handy tips from Mesembryanthemum are all in the (some html is ok) link on the top of each comment box.

As far as Listopia links on a book page ... Often, Goodreads guesses wrong and shows other lists on the book page, but not the list you want.

Luckily, Listopia links follow the same format as other Goodreads links. Unfortunately, most lists seem to include the problematic period in the URL. Alas! Cue much weeping and wailing.

But never fear. I have a work-around for lists, too.

Instead of including the actual link to the Listopia list, construct a Goodreads search that finds the list -- and, ideally, only that list. Then include that link in the description.

For example, imagine that I want to include a link to the Listopia list "Serious Beekeeping Books." (Which I do, because I love honey bees and want to be a beekeeper when I grow up.) So I go to the main Listopia page and enter that list title in the Search box.

When I figure out a search that finds ONLY the list I want, I copy the URL for the search results page and paste it as a link into the book description.

For my example, the link would look like this:
https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_type=lists&q=serious+beekeeping+books

Voila! A totally valid and legitimate link that conforms to GR requirements and policies.

Sandra wrote: "And those handy tips from Mesembryanthemum are all in the (some html is ok) link on the top of each comment box."

LOL. I should read the fine print, shouldn't I? The tip box doesn't mention the fancy variant, but it does mention the basic "book" and "author" syntax.

I hereby amend "undocumented" to "mostly documented" in my comment above. (semi-LOL)

Thank you Mesembryanthemum for the information. I am obviously unobservant. I was trying to use normal website link html and didn’t notice the book and author formatting on that list. I usually just use the drop box here. I now have a list of wanted formatting saved.

The new book page is so long, that I never scroll all the way to the bottom. Consequently I didn’t notice the list at the bottom. (Did I just mention that I am unobservant?) When I went to Lystopia and searched for a list for the Best Children’s Books the search returned a very large number of lists and that one wasn’t near the top. I could have saved myself some work if I payed attention.

Thanks everyone.

Mesembryanthemum wrote: "As far as Listopia links on a book page ... Often, Goodreads guesses wrong and shows other lists on the book page, but not the list you want.."

Goodreads doesn't "guess" about the lists. If there are more lists than appear on the book page, there will be a link for all lists.

Lists are edition specific and always show the list the specific edition is on. Mostly the list will be for the default edition, but sometimes a member will add a different edition or make a different list for another edition. This is to allow lists for cover images usually, but a member may have created a list for another reason, which is completely acceptable.

Again, links to listopia should *not* be in the description. Links for books in the description should be for ACE references and not for similar books or other books by the author.

Julie wrote: "The new book page is so long, that I never scroll all the way to the bottom."

You don't have to scroll to get to the bottom. CTRL-END will get you there quickly. CTRL-HOME will return you to the top of the screen in case you got where you didn't want to go. (This is Windows, obviously. I think for Apple, Option key plus the Down Arrow or Up Arrow does the same thing.)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I think for Apple, Option key plus the Down Arrow or Up Arrow does the same thing."

Just tested—Command+Up or Command+Down to go to the top or bottom of the page. Option+Up/Down scrolls.

Thanks, Liralen.

Thanks for the reminder about the shortcut keys. It isn’t really a matter of scrolling, I just didn’t remember that there is a list link at the bottom of the page. It was out of sight, out of mind. Another example of preference for the former book page format.

Julie wrote: "Another example of preference for the former book page format."

You had to scroll on the old book page too, just not as far.