internetarchive / internetarchive/openlibrary

Allow author pseudonyms on OL to be kept separate but linked to the main author page

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#11,186 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Lead: @cdrini Needs: Breakdown Needs: Response Priority: 4 Type: Feature Request
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Python
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Description

### Feature Request

### Problem / Opportunity
Author merges should be reserved for correcting formatting and other minor variations in author names, not for fully integrating pseudonymous works into one single page. At the same time, it should be possible to link the pseudonym's page on the main author page and vice versa from the "Alternative names" list.

Authors use pseudonyms separate from their main name for various reasons, often to help target separate audiences (e.g. Nora Roberts publishes romance novels; J.D. Robb publishes crime thrillers), and sometimes to address controversial subject matter without risking their whole career. Those separations help inform readers about the authors' process and/or the nature of the publishing industry at the time of publication. There are also pseudonyms that have been shared by multiple authors (whether a "house name" like the author of Nancy Drew, or because the authors wrote on similar themes), in which case merging them is completely inappropriate. Keeping them separate will also make it easier for people to mark a whole author as "want to read" rather than have to click each book individually.

Success will look like links to different author pages in the "Alternative Names" list. Minor variations in names (e.g. birthnames, various initials, with or without middle names, etc) will remain as plain text as well

### Proposal

Mock-up of proposed solution:

Image

### Breakdown

### Related files

Refer to [this map of common Endpoints](https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/wiki/Endpoints):
*

### Requirements Checklist
Checklist of requirements that need to be satisfied in order for this issue to be closed:
* [ ]

### Stakeholders

*


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