Dear Faithlife, So how do I know what I am actually buying?

MJ. Smith

Yes, it is always serious when I begin a post with "Dear" in the title. This time, however, I am not annoyed, merely puzzled that FL procedures appear to have changed without any warning to users to adjust their expectations.

Within the last week, I have run into a variety of small problems which I have reported via the forums, the feedback function in Factbook, or the report typo function:

• The Factbook record for an author not showing his works (Issac of Nineveh)
• Inconsistency in titling making it difficult to find a Factbook record (Pope Alexander I of Alexandria vs Saint Peter of Alexandria vs Athanasius of Alexandria ... all of whom held the same position (Saint) Bishop/Patriarch/Pope of Alexandria)
• Missing sermon and letter tagging
• Parallel Gospel resources not appearing in the Parallel Passages Guide section / Parallel Gospel Reader
• Bible cross-reference not appearing in the Cross-reference Guide section
• Parallel Psalm resource not appearing in the Parallel Passage Guide section
• . . . ad nauseum 

In the recent past, these kinds of problems resulted in response is some form of "it's been added to the list" which implied that if we waited long enough, the issue would be addressed. Recently, the responses have more often been in the less promising form of:

• Sean Boisen said:

  Additional processing is required for a resource to appear in Parallel Passages: we've been selective about which resources get that extra effort. 

• Kyle G. Anderson said:

  Thanks for the suggestion. I've put this on this list of resources that could be updated.

I can understand that as Faithlife has added tagging, they may have outstripped their ability to actually provide it retroactively e.g. the letters containing only the author/recipient/date data but not the content information.  And where it is possible I don't object to adding the information myself in those cases where it is important to me. I do object to not being able to add the data because of limitations in the LCV (e.g. I do not find an entry for Arius).

But what I do object to is not being able to tell when I purchase a resource, especially a brand new resource, not knowing which of the functions I would expect it to work with, it will actually work with. I buy with the presumption of paying a premium for the additional functionality provided by the software. Yes, I should manage my expectations better by better separating new to me from new to Logos, but the truth is that each time I run into a function the resources isn't coded for, a link that isn't made, a search or guide that fails to pick up my new resource, my satisfaction with the product drops slightly and my motivation to enthusiastically recommend it drops a notch. If Faithlife provided me with clear information proactively managing my expectations, the slow erosion of confidence could be stemmed. 

Rick Ausdahl

MJ, I'm just a layperson with simple (but important to me) needs and desires when it comes to biblical studies, yet I often wonder about the same point you are making.  I suppose my first reflections on that came up early in my use of Logos when I would do searches and not get links to resources I knew had relevant information regarding my searches.

After reading a number of forum posts regarding search queries and results, I concluded missed resources in my search results were most likely caused by my lack of understanding regarding the requirements for setting up the search queries properly--something I resolved I'd never have the time to master.  Eventually I stopped creating my own searches and started trying to use some of the other tools available in Logos to do what I was trying to achieve.  But I discovered those tools also missed relevant resources.

I finally just resolved to accept the fact that since I would never be able to really know how many resources were not getting included in the lists returned when doing searches or using other tools, I would just have to live with the results Logos provided, and then wander through my library looking for additional resources if I was too disappointed or doubtful about the completeness of the Logos results.

I am still thankful for Logos and for the resources I've acquired, and I still believe that most (maybe all?) of my disappointments with resource results when doing research are likely the result of my own lack of expertise regarding proper use of Logos.  But I have to say it has left me often asking the same question:  How do I know what I am actually buying?

Mark

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1090982#Comment_1090982

Rick Ausdahl said:

I finally just resolved to accept the fact that since I would never be able to really know how many resources were not getting included in the lists returned when doing searches or using other tools, I would just have to live with the results Logos provided, and then wander through my library looking for additional resources if I was too disappointed or doubtful about the completeness of the Logos results.

This is me.

DMB

MJ. Smith said:

But what I do object to is not being able to tell when I purchase a resource, especially a brand new resource, not knowing which of the functions I would expect it to work with, it will actually work with.

To be honest, I use almost none of the Logos tagging. Yes, the morphs, etc. Mainly because the tagging is somewhere between incomplete and inexact. Then add, that the extraction (searching) is painful.

But big-picture, it's a disappointment to the vision Bob evinced years back. Empowering for Christians. To be fair, Accordance has a similar problem. Guesswork as to what each resource is capable of. Short mind-numbing descriptions from avoid-controversy-publishers. A shrug, when it looks suspiciously unneeded.

My favorite joy in Logos is functionalites unmentioned. Surely 'someone' spent hours and hours of hard work, and oh so useful. But its arrival at the selling point, is a yawn, a generic 'boilerplate', and some database info.