Category talk:Articles with invalid ISBNs/Archive 1

message: 2-10-4.  Jack Farrell, 'North American Steam Locomotives: the Berkshire and Texas Types'. The ISBN originally given in WP was 91-571-3151-2, which is invalid. It seems most likely to be a copying error, rather than published invalid. (Can't be sure without seeing a physical copy of the book). I updated the WP article with the correct ISBN, 0-915713-15-2.
A Certain Woman, by Areo Takishima, published 1978 by University of Tokyo Press.. First marked in WP as 'No ISBN available'. Originally published with , which is invalid. The Library of Congress still has it entered under the bad ISBN and even finds it by that number using an ISBN search. Update. User:Schutz at A Certain Woman has updated the page with a corrected ISBN, whereby two digits are switched from the original. It is now  and said to be published in 1978 by Columbia Univ. Press. Haven't seen a physical copy of this book. But at least one edition must have been published invalid because it was entered that way in the Library of Congress.  It now gives me great ironic pleasure to show this link to an online bookstore, where both editions (Tokyo and New York) are shown in the same listing, one with the bad ISBN and one with the good! . Thanks to Schutz for helping get to the bottom of this! EdJohnston 19:07, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: *Switched 'No ISBN available' to OCLC link plus implemented a bit of other polishing. Keesiewonder talk 00:22, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

text: I find nothing "admirable" about refusing to return information for an invalid ISBN.  When a publisher prints an invalid ISBN they are doing an inadvertent disservice, but for a library to refuse to look up based on known information is to be deliberately unreasonable -- hardly customer-friendly.  An invalid number is nearly as likely to be unique as a valid number, and thus quite unlikely to return a false positive.  I agree that flagging them is the right thing to do -- and understand that some databases want to avoid storing invalid numbers at any cost.  However, by storing them and flagging them as invalid they meet the needs of both the librarian and the customer. Cleduc 00:29, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

text: *Switched article reference over to new . Keesiewonder talk 00:34, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

text: *Previously updated by another editor to new . Removed extra instance of ISBN in citation. Keesiewonder talk 01:17, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

text: *Previously updated by another editor to new . Keesiewonder talk 01:24, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

text: FWIW, I'm finished with this thread. Keesiewonder talk 01:27, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Some useful notes, and some wrongly published or maybe wrongly printed ISBNs

message: There were about 2,500 members shortly after the first creation of this category:
*1162 as of 10:38, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: How many

message: I have re-checked the book source in King Edward VI High School for Girls   and it is printed as quoted in the article, although the check digit fails. How should this be handled? The book can't be changed. Oosoom Talk to me 14:44, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I searched for this in www.worldcat.org and found it right away!  (pure luck).  That entry shows an ISBN that's different in one digit, 0-510-26250-3. I'd suggest you update your article based on the Worldcat information.  When updating, it is good to include the publisher (Benn) in the citation.  Also in the case of books that might be hard to find like this one, it would be helpful to our readers if you include the actual first names of the authors. That would aid in any future library searching. EdJohnston 15:40, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: What a useful web site. Bookmarked for future reference. I've updated the article as you suggested. Many thanks. Oosoom Talk to me 17:09, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh yes, worldcat is amazingly useful for cleaning out this cat.  I put this cat on dragons flight's category tracker too so I can watch it go down. (Look at the bottom for it). --Kevin_b_er 01:48, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

text: *New template has been implemented and inserted by another editor. I added OCLC link as well. Keesiewonder talk 11:22, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: FWIW, I'm finished with this thread. Keesiewonder talk 11:22, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wrong in the book 

message: OK, looks like the book world is getting it's act together. Amazon now shows 13 and 10 digit ISBNs. BL are requesting 13 digit in all documentation according to User:Rodw.  I've done a short test run, so let me know if there's any pages worth prioritising, or where you can check the conversion.  Rich Farmbrough, 10:52 23  December 2006 (GMT).
:Rich, I've been grabbing 13 digits anytime I find them.  Is Wiki going to have heartburn over doing that?  I've been using Amazon for over a week now with Abebooks as my search back-up and have just started using the full title "ISBN-13 and the number" to replace any corrections. I feel like it is a waste of time to just plug in another 10 digit replacement.Ekotkie 18:35, 25 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Rich, I am done with the "B's" and off to the C row.  I have begun to hate the people who have buried their isbn's under reference.  It really is time consuming to read all of the text just to pull out a buried isbn.  Hope you had a nice holiday.Ekotkie 17:34, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Amazon now showing 13 digit ISBN

message: See the following link  for a debate that took place on WP:ANI, on 23-25 December 2006. To save space here I copied only the initial complaint and summarized the rest.
A four-page discussion ensued. Rich Farmbrough offered this list of options:
See the original discussion for the parts of Rich's analysis that I omitted. As you can see from my comments (higher up on the present Talk page) I don't see the urgency of converting Wikipedia's ISBNs now, so I am very comfortable with his Option 1. EdJohnston 18:29, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Complaints about SmackBot converting ISBN-10s to ISBN-13 

message: See Salt of the Air by Vera Nazarian. You can search on either of the two ISBNs, and provided you remove the single hyphen that they show in the ISBN-13, it will find it. Curiously, you can observe that their ISBN-13 search is actually doing a conversion to ISBN-10 before doing the lookup. (Look at the URL of the page that you find). When you give Amazon a hyphenated ISBN-10 it appears to remove the hyphens before doing the search, which should be easy to do, so I hope they fix their ISBN-13 behavior soon. 
Abebooks.com will search on ISBN-13 and doesn't care about hyphens, but it shows only the ISBN-10 in a book entry. 
Luckily isbn-check.de will now verify ISBN-13s. EdJohnston 02:26, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi Ed, HNY.  I have been using Amazon as one of my sources and for awhile started using 13 digit ISBNs.  Then Rich started getting flack and I just said "Geesh" (or words to that effect) and now all I am using is 10 digit.  I figure it will be easier, all the way around to let a bot make the conversion.  In many cases the title here has been bracketed.  I have found that Amazon also ignores the brackets.  Smart engine they have over there. As for hyphens, I gave up on them a long time ago.  I do not see any value in using them.  A straight number works all the time.  LoC also didn't like hyphens awhile back. Coffee at my side, back to fixing stuff.Ekotkie 17:54, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Amazon now showing dual ISBNs, and will search on ISBN-13, but won't find a hyphenated ISBN-13 

message: , "A !Xoo Dictionary". I re-ran the check today and it's passing at isbn.org, so please ignore my previous statement. EdJohnston 21:00, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  
An ISBN that passes isbn-check.de but fails at isbn.org
 

message: Rich, EdJ D row is finished and off to the E row.  Bunch of weird encounters in the D row.  Look up Doom novels and how this person used a program to place his isbn's.  I was going to add his missing isbn (in addition to making a correction) but just gave up.Ekotkie 19:08, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: *OMG! May I suggest we switch to this (excluding my world sandbox stuff)? Keesiewonder talk 12:00, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The Doom novels page needs someone to go in and undo the subst-ing of a citation template which was done here.  They should never be substituted (see WP:CITE). EdJohnston 15:08, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I thought what I suggested above would accomplish precisely that. I'll be bold and put in my change and you can undo it if I am in error. Keesiewonder talk 23:26, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Looks good! EdJohnston 23:58, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  D Row 

message: Just finished my pass through the E'sEkotkie 00:36, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: E Row

message: Must be edited by an administratorEkotkie 01:31, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Falun Gong

message: Just finished the first pass of the F row.  Ekotkie 19:28, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: A tough row

message: I wonder why Wavy Gravy falls under G instead of W in this listing. Keesiewonder talk 18:56, 20 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: *Let's remove the ISBN. If the material was published by RX Records, it is (probably) not a book and thus won't have an ISBN, right?!? Keesiewonder talk 00:29, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I've removed the ISBN and left a note on the article's talk page. Keesiewonder talk 23:41, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Wavy Gravy]]

message: First pass completedEkotkie 17:10, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Rich, EdJ.  I have just received a note from a contact in Hong Kong as to the errant isbn for that subject page.  He drew a big blank in searching his direct Hong Kong Library sources.  The "book" in question is only 23 pages long.  It strikes me as being more like a thesis paper then a book.  Recommend that the faulty ISBN be struck and leave the ref. data for others.  Be bold, use a broad sword.Ekotkie 22:45, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: H row

message: Iron Maiden -- Administrator edit only —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.242.209.79 (talk) 19:20, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That is my comment above. Wasn't logged in for some reason.  The "I" row has been completed for its first pass.Ekotkie 20:11, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: I Row

message: First pass completed on the J row.Ekotkie 17:59, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: J Row

message: I have had some replies from booksources, including Amazon who say they are now fully compliant. Rich Farmbrough, 23:29 12  January 2007 (GMT).
::FWIW, I have found Amazon to be much more helpful in locating ISBN.  Of course my using that has confused the Amazon tracking tool and it now is making all sorts of weird recommendations for me to buy.....haha.  Ekotkie 17:13, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Booksources