The 1918-19 Flu Outbreak

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The 1918-19 Flu Outbreak

1aspirit
Mag 11, 2020, 9:44 am

Should I anticipate problems with revising event names to bring together works for an event that's entered under multiple names? I figure tags will vary but the historical event should be under one name.

As an "epidemic" (only one or two books to each):

https://www.librarything.com/events/Spanish+Influenza+epidemic
https://www.librarything.com/events/Spanish+Flu+Epidemic
https://www.librarything.com/events/Influenza+Epidemic (entered by me from the dropdown)
https://www.librarything.com/events/1918+influenza+epidemic
https://www.librarything.com/events/Flu+epidemic+of+1918
https://www.librarything.com/events/Great+Influenza+Epidemic

As a "pandemic":

https://www.librarything.com/events/Influenza+pandemic (1918|1919)

2abbottthomas
Mag 11, 2020, 10:40 am

The outbreak certainly qualifies as a pandemic and, despite a relatively trivial fourth wave of the H1N1 virus in 1920, the dates 1918/1919 are right. Some people might object to the "Spanish 'flu'" sobriquet on the grounds that there was no certain evidence that Spain was either the source of the infection or the worst affected country.

Can't see any reason not to combine.

3gilroy
Mag 11, 2020, 11:06 am

Influenza epidemic is too broad. I wouldn't include that.
Same with Great Influenza Epidemic.

The others look fine.

4lorax
Mag 11, 2020, 3:41 pm

"Spanish Flu" may be inaccurate but it's also probably the most familiar term. Findability matters too - what are people going to search for? For tags we can combine such that they redirect while still keeping all forms findable - not so for events. If you have to revise them, go for whatever is the most commonly used one.

5aspirit
Modificato: Mag 11, 2020, 11:17 pm

>4 lorax: I saw recent author interviews and news article refer to "the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic". On social media, I'm seeing "the 1918 flu pandemic" and simply "the Spanish flu". Medical organizations refer to "the 1918 influenza pandemic". I'm unsure what's most common in searches but think we should go with "Influenza pandemic (1918|1919)". The dates can be changed as needed.

>3 gilroy: okay.

>2 abbottthomas: I'll combine event listings tomorrow, assuming no major distractions develop.

Thank you!

6lorax
Mag 12, 2020, 1:35 pm

aspirit (#5):

Sorry, by "most commonly used" I meant "most commonly used" in context. Not on social media, not in the news, not in medical literature, but in the specific case of LT CK Events. Just pick whichever one is most common in that specific situation and change the rest to match. It's also less work.