internetarchive / internetarchive/openlibrary

Appropriate notices should be provided to users about search/list delays

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#425 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Affects: Data Affects: UI Lead: @cdrini Priority: 3 Type: Feature Request
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Description

As a new user to OpenLibrary, I might reasonably expect a change I make (such as a new book being added to an author) immediately showing up when I subsequently search for that author as proof of my accomplishment. Of course as I examine the code here, I know this isn't true; the solr process runs to make changes where works and authors are searchable every 15 minutes. For all intents and purposes, a new author (if applicable) or a new work is only browsable for the first few minutes by going directly to its OL ID.

_The problem is, a user new to the site will not know this._ Many users who see a delay like this and are not cautioned in some way may be likely to try to create duplicate books, or to create duplicate new authors (each of which have the same single newly added book) because they'll believe that their request 'didn't go through'.

OpenStreetMap handles this by giving a notice when someone saves a change in iD:
Your changes should appear in the "Standard" layer in a few minutes. Other layers, and certain features, may take longer. [Details](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/FAQ#I_have_just_made_some_changes_to_the_map._How_do_I_get_to_see_my_changes.3F)

I suggest something like this, which will help solve both the problem of 'understanding that it takes a few minutes to see the change on the live site', but also 'wanting to confirm the creation one has just done', as [here](https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/blob/f8092840a77c7479a352fd83fd068d340f97d3e3/openlibrary/templates/messages.html#L8):

'Thank you very much for adding this [LINK]new book[/LINK]! It should appear in title searches and under [LINK]the author[/LINK] in a few minutes.

In the meantime, do you have more information you can add?'

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