Anonymous Endorsements
Noticing that FL has dropped the identification line from product endorsements. Frankly, I treat them like the mainstream media's anonymous sources for news flashes. I ignore them. If a person is ashamed of what he/she is saying, what is the value of the declaration? Besides, it is very easy to fabricate endorsement/releases and attribute them to an anonymous source.
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Could you post some examples so that I can understand what you're referring to?
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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JT (alabama24) said:
I'm not quite sure what you are referring to either. I see names for the blurbs & faithlife reviews.
Try this one https://ebooks.faithlife.com/product/129301/jesus-behaving-badly-the-puzzling-paradoxes-of-the-man-from-galilee That was the one I saw just before the post. It contains multiple endorsements without a single identification. There have been a number of others, but it is not worth my time to go back and find them.
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Jack Caviness said:JT (alabama24) said:
I'm not quite sure what you are referring to either. I see names for the blurbs & faithlife reviews.
Try this one https://ebooks.faithlife.com/product/129301/jesus-behaving-badly-the-puzzling-paradoxes-of-the-man-from-galilee That was the one I saw just before the post. It contains multiple endorsements without a single identification.
I think this may be because the endorsements are one page in the back of the book, and not four pages in front of it, thus the automated feed may work differently (I think there's a good chance the data came incomplete from the publisher and was just put onto the product page without Faithlife taking something out).
Fwiw, here are the endorsements:
Have joy in the Lord!
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Whatever the reason for the omission, I have also found this frustrating and pointless. I look at endorsements to judge something about the book as I recognize those who endorse it. When they are anonymous they serve no purpose.
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Anonymous endorsements is the least of your concerns when you purchase a FL eBook.
Here is just one example: https://community.logos.com/forums/t/185268.aspx
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Jack Caviness said:
Noticing that FL has dropped the identification line from product endorsements. Frankly, I treat them like the mainstream media's anonymous sources for news flashes. I ignore them. If a person is ashamed of what he/she is saying, what is the value of the declaration? Besides, it is very easy to fabricate endorsement/releases and attribute them to an anonymous source.
Hi Jack,
You're not suggesting that FaithLife is fabricating book reviews? Unattributed is not the same as anonymous. And as has been pointed out, the likely cause of the lack of attribution is FaithLife's automatic and not-infallible process for migrating ebooks into its own format.
There are a number of legitimate reasons why the media might not be in a position to disclose or would choose not to disclose their sources, but that is a matter for a different forum.
If you come across this particular FL issue with unattributed reviews again, a work-around is to Google the book and read the attributed reviews on other websites.
Every blessing,
GJ
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Gordon Jones said:
And as has been pointed out, the likely cause of the lack of attribution is FaithLife's automatic and not-infallible process for migrating ebooks into its own format.
If they can show the endorsement, there is no reason that could not also include the name of the endorser.
Gordon Jones said:If you come across this particular FL issue with unattributed reviews again, a work-around is to Google the book and read the attributed reviews on other websites.
That should. not be necessary. As I said above, if they can find the endorsement, they myst also see the endorser.
Gordon Jones said:Unattributed is not the same as anonymous.
Not sure I see the difference. Unnamed is still anonymous.
I am also done with this discussion—like searching Google for the identity of endorsers, this is a colossal waste of time.
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Gordon Jones said:
You're not suggesting that FaithLife is fabricating book reviews?
I think that's exactly what Jack is suggesting. FL literally has a secret staff creating book reviews of books they haven't even read. Of course, one wonders who would even pose such a nutty (though typically modern) question.
More seriously, when you write automated import/transfer routines (in this case from publishers), you also check whether the slots filled, and usually tests for expected content (eg numeric, specialty formatting etc). Then you send any exceptions to the staff to review.
So, in this case, chances are good, no provided source, leave it blank. And Jack's point ... potential customers ($$) leave off purchasing. Not good for FL.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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This issue is likely caused by the metadata coming in our system from the publishers. We know how valuable endorsements are to our readers and would not intentionally omit crediting the endorser. As you may know, Faithlife Ebooks is an automated system that sometimes produces unexpected results. Unlike the premium products produced for Logos, the Ebooks site is automated so we can provide lower priced books (those unlikely to make it onto Logos) to our customers who want to use them in our system. We’re not yet certain why endorser’s names are being left off and we have a case into the dev team to look into it. If you find anymore product pages with missing endorser’s names please list them here, if you don’t mind, that will help the dev team get answers faster.
We appreciate you bringing this to our attention! Thanks for choosing to purchase your ebooks from us!
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Deb Keiser said:
If you find anymore product pages with missing endorser’s names please list them here, if you don’t mind, that will help the dev team get answers faster.
Just found another one https://ebooks.faithlife.com/product/167166/taking-pascals-wager-faith-evidence-and-the-abundant-life
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Deb Keiser said:
This issue is likely caused by the metadata coming in our system from the publishers. We know how valuable endorsements are to our readers and would not intentionally omit crediting the endorser. As you may know, Faithlife Ebooks is an automated system that sometimes produces unexpected results. [...] We’re not yet certain why endorser’s names are being left off and we have a case into the dev team to look into it.
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