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  • Catalogue administrator
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  • September 03, 2015 11:21
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September 03, 2015 11:21

Because the previous topic has become very polluted, I want to start a new one for reporting duplicates.

Please report duplications in this other topic . Please do NOT do this in THIS topic, in this topic I only want to share information and give tips. Please discuss in another topic.


This creates duplications .
Duplications can easily arise due to the following reasons:

1. Sales entry: people think they can freely enter items for sale, as is common on certain other supply sites, and they don't realize that they are being entered into a catalog - where items are supposed to be unique. It is of course the intention to first find the item to be sold in the catalogue, open it, and then use the link 'This item'/'Sell' on the right side of the screen.

2. Search does not return the searched item, due to the stamp filter (green bar) which is active by default. This only shows the items that Catawiki labels as 'standard items', including only Franking and Airmail usage types. For example, perforation varieties and postage stamps are only shown if you switch off the filter.

3. The ' Usage type ' field has only recently become mandatory, and it is still too easy to fill in <Undefined>. Empty usage types, or <Undefined>, are not shown when the stamp filter is active. Because Catawiki is a 'wiki' system where anyone can enter and change, many usage types are incorrect in the database. Or the item you are looking for has a different usage type than you assume.

4. The 'Standard' sort, which is active by default, first shows all items created with the initial 'Collect-A-ROM' import. After that you will only see all items that have been added by other users afterwards. So, for example, if you look through display case in France , you will first see more than 27 pages of the Collect-A-rom import (1849 through 2009), and then again the imports by others from 1849. That sorting 'Standard' would be may be modified soon (remove 'collect-a-rom' sorting).

5. By default, in most sorting options, after the main sort, items are sorted by Series name ( formerly: Series name). You will quickly assume that if you see the stamps from a series (or click on the series name) and the item you are looking for is not listed, then you need look no further. Wrong! The item you are looking for can indeed already be in the database, but without series name, or wrong series name, or series <Undefined>.

Unfortunately, there are far too few administrators to 'review' the enormous amount of additions and changes in a timely manner, so those errors such as wrong usage types or series names can remain in the database for a very long time.

Tips for efficient search
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1. Always switch off the stamp filter before searching for a stamp. Do that before using any of the following search methods:

2. Do not set the sort to Standard, but to Year or Series

3. You can search by numbers from external catalogs in the 'Cat Nr' search field. That often works very well - but not always, because not everyone fills in catalog numbers, and because different catalogs can be used. If you can't find an item through the CatNr, don't assume it doesn't exist in the catalog either.

4. If the area is very 'polluted', try a visual search by switching to 'showcase' display. You will then see many more items on one page and you can 'scan' more quickly for the image you are looking for.

How can you help
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1. Enter the correct usage type for stamps with an incorrect or empty usage type
2. Enter the correct series name (the one already existing with the other items from that series or series) if you see that stamps are incorrectly not in the same series
3. Always enter the year of issue. Items with an empty year (unfortunately 'year' is not a required field) are always shown at the very end of the area
4. Search your collection, shop and wish list for items titled 'duplicate of ....', remove and replace them in your list with the correct item listed. Then the duplication could just be removed again


Duplications
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If you encounter a duplication:

1. then change the NL title to 'DOUBLURE van' + the Catawiki number of the existing item. Empty the other 3 titles and 'tab' through the titles again, from the NL title. The other titles are then automatically translated (and yes, that translation is quite lacking).

Copying / pasting the Catawiki number works best, a typing error is easily made in these numbers. A title other than 'DOUBLURE van' is not (so quickly) recognized by administrators, so keep this literally. Capitalizing makes the item stand out more, hopefully making collectors less likely to link the item.

Make sure that the duplication is visible next to the original, that is easier and more transparent for everyone. The duplicate must therefore have the same year, type of use, type, series name and serial number as the original.

2. Then report the Catawiki number of the duplicate via the above link. However, reporting this only makes sense if:
- the item was not yet approved (use link 'history', creation history must not be green)
- no collectors, other than the creator, have yet been linked to the collection, shop or wish list. However, this is not always visible (private collection).

In principle, the item with the oldest entry date is the item that should remain. It is a bit strange to send the first importer a rejection email stating that a duplication had been entered. In some cases, an exception may be made.

Items that have not yet been linked to collectors (except the creator) can still be rejected by an administrator. The creator always receives an e-mail in which he is informed about this. Sending an email is an automatic and mandatory step for an administrator when disapproving.

Items that are already linked to other collectors can no longer be removed by an administrator. These will be deduplicated or merged with the existing item in due course, by a super administrator. To make his work easier, it is desirable that the stamps (original and duplicates) are together (same year and series, etc.).

You can also report items that already have the title 'duplicate of ..', but have no other collectors associated with them. That item has already been marked before but not reported as a duplication.

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