Should No Image Available covers be flagged?

If someone has uploaded a cover image that is some generic image with "No Image Available" typed on it, should that be flagged as not a cover? I'm feeling ambivalent, because technically speaking, it's not a cover, but if the uploader had a cover, they would have uploaded it in the first place. I know cover flags don't really do anything now, but I don't want to mess up somebody else's information should the flags ever serve a larger function, and I totally understand wanting some way to mark books for which one does not have the correct cover. (Personally, I use the burgundy blank cover, but to each their own.)

Absolutely. Even when the feature is fully implemented, it won't affect the user that uploaded it, and ... it's not a cover.

Yes. We had a similar discussion when cover flagging was first introduced about placeholder images (there's a user who has uploaded a picture of a cat for all the covers where she didn't have an image, since LT won't let you upload your own default cover), and the consensus then was to flag as not-a-cover.

Okay, it's flagged. Thanks!

Absolutely, it's just clutter. No image available is one thing, that can happen. But creating a cover image that says "no cover image" is obviously in itself no cover image - it actually even says so.

That's why I use different colored blank covers to denote various things in my library (black = unread, dark green = my edition is part of an omnibus or collected works, burgundy = my cover has not been uploaded). I can give myself at-a-glance information without cluttering up everybody else's cover image page.

Ah, no, don't get me wrong. To each his / her own. But something that expressly states it's "no cover" is obviously not a cover.

What I mean is, there are ways to denote "no cover" without adding non-cover images.

Ah, okay. Well you can either choose one of the standard covers, or upload such a cover as we described. There is no real problem with uploading such non-covers.

So I guess we may have a misunderstanding there. Quite apart from the fact that cover flagging isn't actually doing anything as is: as I understand it it's not supposed to delete / suppress / etc. any of those covers. It's merely supposed to be some method to halt "bad" covers being offered to other users. (And I've seen way worse than what you mention: Grimm's Fairy Tales don't equate those by Anderson, let alone the KJV bible - even if some person, probably joking, suggested it might be)

P.s.: so, anyway, either way - us possibly flagging a cover picture does NOT mean we think you're a terrible person. It simply means we think the cover doesn't cover the book (and then there is a voting system, etc.).

10>

Agreed, and to go farther: It doesn't even mean we think you shouldn't be able to use that image as a "cover" on your own personal copy. It just means we don't want to see it suggested as a potential cover for others.

Oh, no, I'm not uploading "non-cover covers" for my books where there isn't a cover uploaded already; I mean that I use different selections from among the LT-provided default covers to mean different things in my library. Therefore, it's not necessary for all these non-covers to be uploaded, when there are already "LT approved non-covers" that can be used.

>11 lorax: I agree; I don't care what people put on their own books, but it is frustrating when I add a book and have to wade through all these covers that aren't even relevant just to try to find a cover that matches my copy of the book.

This might have been answered elsewhere but I didn't find it. It's not really the subject of this thread but we have cover-flagging mavens here, so I thought, Why start a new thread for what is probably a dumb question...

Is an anthology cover considered a proper cover image for a story contained therein? A story that is not published stand-alone but is merely catalogued here as {short story} -- is it ok for the cover image of some anthology or collection that happens to contain it (but does not use it as its title-piece) to be put up as the story's cover?

I would think not, but I dunno, do I?

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That work's a mess, it has the short story (Screwjack) and a collection containing it (Screwjack and Other Stories) all mixed up together. I'd fix the combination problem first and then see if the cover issue persists.

It doesn't help that the most popular ISBN is for a collection entitled "Screw-Jack" which contains that story and two others, but Amazon has titled "Screwjack: A Short Story". Another case of really bad data from Amazon.

Actually I didn't mean Screwjack -- that's an accident of my use of square brackets -- forgot it would touchstone. This is the story/anthology cover that inspired my question: http://www.librarything.com/work/3283001

Ah, okay. But returning to the original question: how could any "cover" that specifically bothers to say it's not a cover be a cover? (It's fine for a temporary solution if you choose it though* - again: flagging doesn't mean we think you're an awful person).

* Or whatever: "temporary" isn't exactly a defined fragment of time.

But "No Image Available" clearly identifies that it's not a cover image.

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Ah, gotcha. I think in that case, if the "Not a cover for this work" flag worked as intended, flagging it would be fine; I don't remember whether the bug that meant that flag also showed up on uses of the cover where it was appropriate was fixed or not.