RECOMMENDATION: FL needs to fix links to discontinued resources

See this thread NT331 missing resource: Encountering the Book of Romans by Moo along with my recommendation to fix the problem near the end of page 1. Thank you for keeping links to discontinued resources in the course material, but the purchase this resource should lead to a webpage that clearly explains the situation.

Find more posts tagged with

Mobile Education

Comments

Floyd Johnson

This is probably true for those who do not own a resource, but they should also point to the resource for those who purchased the resource before it was discontinued. This leaves four options:

links to owned resources
links to unowned resources that can be purchased
links to an error message for resources that have never been available via logos (these need to be active links that can be altered once a resource becomes available in the future).
links to an error message for resources that have been discontinued (these need to be active links that can be altered once a resource becomes available again in the future).

Am I missing any options?

Jack Caviness

3. links to an error message for resources that have never been available via logos (these need to be active links that can be altered once a resource becomes available in the future).

Don't know if any of these exist, but I have done few Mobile Ed courses.

4. links to an error message for resources that have been discontinued (these need to be active links that can be altered once a resource becomes available again in the future).

The situation that prompted this thread was links to an original version of Encountering the Book of Romans and a second link to the current version in NT-331. The link for the original version appeared first in the collateral reading list and led to a generic error message, giving the impression that it was a broken link. It needs to be an active link to an explanation for those who do not own the original edition. Just below the problem link is an active link to the current edition with the option to purchase message for those who do not own the resource.

In answer to your question: No I don't think you have not missed anything.

Mark Barnes

Thank you for keeping links to discontinued resources in the course material,

I agree with this, but I also think it might be helpful to have a couple of rules for MobileEd:

Don't create links to products that have already been withdrawn at the time of producing the course, unless they're absolutely vital.
If a first edition is replaced by a second edition after the course has been written, update the material to also include links to the second edition.

John Kaess

Thank you for keeping links to discontinued resources in the course material,

If a first edition is replaced by a second edition after the course has been written, update the material to also include links to the second edition.

^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Jack Caviness

If a first edition is replaced by a second edition after the course has been written, update the material to also include links to the second edition.

I purchased NT-331 on October 2, 2015. My copy of the course includes links to both the first edition and to the revised edition. The problems are that the link to the no-longer available first edition is first listed link. Also clicking this link eventually leads to an error webpage rather than to one explaining the situation. Hopefully, someone from Fl will respond early next week.

Kenneth Neighoff

This course does not contain a first and second edition to Encountering the Book of Romans by Moo. The only difference between the two books by Moo is this, the original one published by Logos contained the pictures that are in the hardback copy of the book, the other copy in Logos (the one they sell now) has no pictures.

I cannot find the discussion on this in the forums, but it was discussed soon after this course first came out. The course only had links to the version without the pictures and they updated the course to include links to the version with the pictures.

with pictures

LLS:ENCBKROMANS 2015-06-30T16:22:12Z ENCBKROMANS.logos4

without pictures

LLS:ENCBKROMANSMOO 2015-06-30T16:22:33Z ENCBKROMANSMOO.logos4

If you look at the course on Mark, it only includes links to the revised edition of the Expositors commentary and none to the older version.

NB.Mick

Jack,

I think that Mark suggests including links to the second edition (which is different to the revised version of the first edition). While Faithlife can't do this for books citing a certain edition, this would surely be possible here where we talk about a course produced inhouse and where there are only "See also"-links to chapters in a book.

Mick

MJ. Smith

Don't create links to products that have already been withdrawn at the time of producing the course, unless they're absolutely vital.

I consider all the readings absolutely vital ... you don't know which ones are available to me.

John Kaess

Jack,

I think that Mark suggests including links to the second edition (which is different to the revised version of the first edition). While Faithlife can't do this for books citing a certain edition, this would surely be possible here where we talk about a course produced inhouse and where there are only "See also"-links to chapters in a book.

now i'm even more confused. Are the links to the encountering romans book in this course BOTH to versions of the first edition, and neither is to the second edition? If that s true, then this needs to be fixed asap, since you cannot buy either version of the first edition.

can someone confirm that none of the links are to the second edition before i buy that resource? I don't want to waste $28.