Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

I noticed this a while back, but I thought maybe it would resolve a day or two after I finally finished all the editing on the author's books. It hasn't so I thought I'd see if anyone else got the same thing.

For Nora Roberts profile, when I first go there after opening my browser, it tells me there are 322 distinct works. Then, if I click to combine editions, let the page load, then go back to the author profile and reload the page, the distinct works count drops down to 293.

This has happened for at least a month.

Could someone else try it and see if the same thing happens?

Isis, It now shows as 293 distinct works on her profile.

Hmm. Weird.

I check her profile at least once or twice a week since there are always editions being added by Amazon and every time I first go to the page it tells me 322. But as soon as I load the combine page, it's 293.

It's bizarre.

That is bizarre. Going straight to her profile page, I still see the 293 only.

Maybe it's because I clicked combine editions just a little while ago since there were some new editions to combine (new hardcover out today = lotsa new audio editions).

Next time I notice it back up to 322, I'll post back here, see if anyone else gets that. It seems to reset once a day.

Thanks for check it out, though!

What's strange is that it's always those same two numbers. New editions are being added all the time, but I'd think the number would vary, not be the same on a daily basis. It doesn't sound as though there's a problem though. It sounds like a caching issue, a delay in noting combining by librarians. And it seems as though it does self correct.

Actually, the numbers do change according to new editions, but the two numbers are always the same amount apart. Like when I checked today first it was 326 then 297 (3 new audio editions + 1 blank entry I combined and booted). So no matter what, it's always a difference of 29.

I just used 322-293 as the basis since that's the bottom-line on her profile and what it usually is (no more combining can be done at those numbers).

Huh! I've noticed something similar with Clamp -- another prolific author whose books I check regularly -- but I've never checked whether the numbers are always the same, only noticed that they tend to drop by about a dozen just for opening and closing the "combine editions" page.... I'll have to keep an eye on the numbers from now on!

This might or might not factor in...but at the time I first noticed this happening, I was in the process of deleting a whole bunch of non-editions.

It took me like 2 weeks to fully edit all her books, but the difference between the 2 numbers started out smaller, then got bigger until it settled at a difference of 29 as I did edits/deletions.

I sometimes wonder if those 29 are phantoms of blank editions I deleted ;)

It's a caching issue. [Edit: Probably.]

The other way to force a cache reset on author editions (other than "combine editions") is to click on the "distinct editions" (it's a link) and go to the list of author's books. That number is not cached, and if you then go back to the author page, the number should show up correctly.

So does that mean the numbers are stuck that way and the only way to get the accurate count is to either click combine or distinct works every time?

p.s. - it's back to 322 for me now.

I was going to ask you stuff about your browser, but I got the same thing. AND the "distinct works" link did nothing, but your trick worked. WEIRD!

Methinks we have a GR bug. This topic is moving to the HELP folder.

I noticed a similar problem today with Terry Brooks. If you go to his page there will be either 88 or 85 distinct works. If you click on the "distinct" works it will come up with 88, which will stick if you go back to his author page. If you click on combine editions and then go back to the author page the number of editions will drop to 85. That 85 will stick until you click on the number of distinct editions in which case it goes back to 88.

Edit: As a guess, the combine editions page may be (incorrectly) resetting the number with the number of distinct works for which the author is first author while the "distinct" works count (correctly) includes all books, whether the authors is first, second, or third author.

LOL...yeah, it's the weirdest thing and Cait said she's seen it on another author, too.

I have no idea which is the actual distinct works # is for NR...I've not particularly felt inclined to try to count them ;) I'm guessing it's 293, but who knows.

Michael - interesting thought on the first/second/third author. I know many JD Robb books have NR listed as second author.

I went through the JD Robb books...and out of 52 distinct works (or 49 depending on which count you want...yeah, same problem)...I count 28 works with at least one edition listing NR as second author. Pretty close to the difference of 29 I get on NR's distinct works.

Huh. Maybe that's it, then.

Still a weird bug.

That's what it sounds like and I guess it makes sense.

I've been keeping track and this variability in the count of distinct works is definitely due to the combine editions page. If you click the combine editions page, then the total number of distinct works on the author page is set to the total number of distinct works that show up on the combine editions page (that is, the count for which the author is first author). If you actually click on the number of distinct works, then this value is reset to to the total number of works for which the author is 1st, 2nd, or 3rd author (that is, the count for all books, whether first author or not).

The second of these is clearly the correct value, but there is a bug which resets the number when the combine editions page is accessed.