Apply *Ignore User* Option to eBook Uploads?

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by grannyGrumpy

I wonder if a key question might be "how does MobileRead make books discoverable and accessible to the users?"

Do the majority of downloaders get their new book fix from info from RSS feed? (I can't subscribe from my work computer, my only internet connection, so don't know what is shown in the feed.)

Do they get it from the five "Latest Ebooks" display on the home page?

Do they get it by browsing the first page in the forum for their preferred format (Do they go the extra mile and browse page 2?)

How many downloaders actually use the search engine unless they are seeking a specific title/author/subject? And how would one use the search engine to find new (as opposed to old) uploads?

I guess it's possible that these are exactly the kinds of questions that are being asked if there is already an intention to redesign the library. I do use the library to search for public domain works usually before going elsewhere, but I have to admit, some of these features I've never even used.

I never even noticed the search feature until you mentioned it then. You don't want to know how I've been finding my ebooks until now.

EDIT: Oh, and congratulations for the decidedly un-grumpy post. What's in a name, eh?

[frquixote]

Originally Posted by grannyGrumpy

I wonder if a key question might be "how does MobileRead make books discoverable and accessible to the users?"

Do the majority of downloaders get their new book fix from info from RSS feed? (I can't subscribe from my work computer, my only internet connection, so don't know what is shown in the feed.)

Do they get it from the five "Latest Ebooks" display on the home page?

Do they get it by browsing the first page in the forum for their preferred format (Do they go the extra mile and browse page 2?)

I can't speak for anyone else, but I click down the E-Books drop down, select ePub and sort the ePub list by date. That allows me to look back through time to the last time I looked at the list and figure out which books look interesting. With the current rate of production I can look at a list of books for the last week in a matter of minutes, generally using the Genre column to filter out those book genres I am unlikely to be interested in.

[GrannyGrump]

Originally Posted by frquixote

I can't speak for anyone else, but I click down the E-Books drop down, select ePub and sort the ePub list by date.

That sounds very useful. How do you do it? I don't see any way to sort by any criteria. When I click the drop-down, it takes me to the first page of the alphabetic list of the format I chose.

eagerly waiting for instructions...

[PeterT]

Click on the labels at the top of the columns (ie Author / E-Book, Genre, Format, Uploader, Date Posted, Replies, Views) to sort by that field.

Once sorted by a column you can then choose to reverse the order by clicking on the little blue arrow on that field.

[DaleDe]

Well the very first entry is browse by latest uploads on the eBooks menu at the top of the page. Clicking this will show everything by date sorted with latest first. You can then click on the type of file and select ePub if this is the format you wish. Simple and quick. Of course you can also do the kinds of sorts you specified and searches as well but the browse choice is quick and easy.

Dale

[GrannyGrump]

I never claimed to be smarter than a box of Minute Rice, but this had me baffled for a good while. I *am* unobservant, and did not realize that the column names were clickable sorting buttons.

Maybe there could be some sort of note at the top of the page stating that?
(but maybe I'm the only slow learner in the class.)

Thanks to PeterT and DaleDe.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by grannyGrumpy

I never claimed to be smarter than a box of Minute Rice, but this had me baffled for a good while. I *am* unobservant, and did not realize that the column names were clickable sorting buttons.

Maybe there could be some sort of note at the top of the page stating that?
(but maybe I'm the only slow learner in the class.)

Being able to recognize this feature has nothing to do with being smart. It is simply a matter of pattern recognition and having been exposed to this feature anywhere in the computer world. Now that you are aware of this feature keep an eye out for this feature when you visit other web sites and use various programs, as sorting by column header is common practice and used frequently.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

How about limiting each uploader to one thread per forum similar to the way it's done in the Deals forum for "affiliate link" offers? All works they upload would be confined to that thread. To keep thread size manageable, a new thread could be started each month. That way, infrequent uploaders won't drop off the front page so quickly.

That sounds like an excellent idea, TM! What I wonder is whether the structure of the library and the system of uploading we have now would accommodate it. Your idea would certainly solve a large part of the problem, since others would then have more visible slots to occupy when their books were uploaded. The top-shelf life of their new books would be longer.

[weatherwax]

Not sure how having one thread per uploader helps. I want to have an overview of what is new and not what is new from ...

The time an upload stays on the "front page" depends on the overall activity in the upload forum. There are busy days and less busy days and not always because of individuals loading many titles in different formats.
When you simply go to the forum and see the number of posts it might be ovewhelming if each title is shown 3 times.
Setting the filter to the favored format alreday reduces the number of results and if the duplicates disappear you get to "Nice to have such a big selection".
Only peeve is if someone does not check if the book they are loading already exists and if their new version has to offer anything the already existing upload does not have.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Thanks for the practical comments, Weatherwax. Thanks, too, for sticking to the subject!

[frquixote]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Click on the labels at the top of the columns (ie Author / E-Book, Genre, Format, Uploader, Date Posted, Replies, Views) to sort by that field.

Once sorted by a column you can then choose to reverse the order by clicking on the little blue arrow on that field.

Thanks for answering grannyGrumpy, PeterT.