ISFDB

[gunsofchekhovia]

So, I just stumbled across a page about me on isfdb.org. It lists all of my drabbles from the show, including the ones only credited to "gunsofchekhovia." It does not list my recent flash piece published elsewhere, which tells me the information is being submitted by someone here.

Am I allowed to ask who is doing this thankless task so I can thank them?

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Best we can tell, they are using scraper bots to stealcopy all our pixels.

So, thank some robot for this drudgery. I'm sure the robots won't hold all these dirty tasks against us, come singularity time...

[gunsofchekhovia]

Well, I wonder. Because, as you know, some of my drabbles have been credited to my real name and some to my forum username, and they're all listed together, which makes it seem like the work of a human.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Your real name is often used on episode pages which is where the scraping takes place, IIRC.

Sometimes your forum name is used instead, there. It all depends on who makes and who cleans up the entry.

[strawman]

Want some fun? Search for Norm Sherman Bbardle albums until you find the the Chinese pirated ones with reviews written by bots. Comments like "This one so funny my hairs fell out."

The world is stranger than we thought yesterday.

[SpareInch]

Am I allowed to ask who is doing this thankless task so I can thank them?

But, Guns, the whole point of doing a thankless task is that it is thankless. It makes people feel all smug and self righteous, knowing that they are doing a thankless task for someone else. If you start thanking people, then their task won't be thankless any more, and you will have made them feel just that bit less special.

They won't thank you for it.

*Takes tongue out of cheek*

[ROU Killing Time]

Want some fun? Search for Norm Sherman Bbardle albums until you find the the Chinese pirated ones with reviews written by bots. Comments like "This one so funny my hairs fell out."

The world is stranger than we thought yesterday.

And on the sidebar, ads for discounted chinese pharmacy Propecia, no doubt.

[ROU Killing Time]

I'm sure the robots won't hold all these dirty tasks against us, come singularity time...

We're only here to help.

Love,

The Culture

[Desmond Warzel]

"Am I allowed to ask who is doing this thankless task so I can thank them?"

That would be me. I took it upon myself to enter the full run of the Drabblecast into ISFDB, and I've kept it current ever since.

I can assure you that every item in the database is entered by hand and no bots are involved. There is one exception: I think they have a program that scours Amazon for new releases, but even then, every item must be manually approved by a human moderator before inclusion.

To be eligible for inclusion, a book/periodical/whatever must be in either physical or downloadable form (ie, Kindle, PDF, mp3); straight-up webzines are ineligible (with a couple of exceptions made for SFWA-qualifying markets like Strange Horizons or Tor.com), as websites are ephemeral and unstable. My own ISFDB entry is missing several stories because they appeared only on the web, and wouldn't be eligible for inclusion until they're anthologized or collected in ebook or physical form.

I told you all of that in order to tell you this: that Derek is indeed sometimes credited as Derek and sometimes as gunsofchekhovia, but it goes by whatever Norm says on the podcast itself; the website is irrelevant. If the Drabblecast site vanished tomorrow, all that would be left are the mp3 copies on various iPods and PCs, and so that's what we go by. If Norm calls Derek Derek, then he's Derek; if he calls him guns, then he's guns. (Sometimes, it takes some real digging to find out who some of these people are, if I even can.)

I've actually done a lot of the SF podcasts as I listen to them anyway when I'm out walking or when I'm writing. I've found it's best to listen rather than just enter the data from the sites. Early Escape Pod, for instance, often had little book reviews tucked in at the ends of the episodes that aren't mentioned on the site; their database entries (listing only the fiction) were technically incomplete until I heard them and added in the reviews.

Anyway, long story short, there are no bots involved, assuming you believe that I'm human.

Cheers,

Desmond

[gunsofchekhovia]

Thank you, Desmond! It's nice to know there are still some good robots left in the world.