Split aliased to Pseudonym OR Pseud to Mass Author???

Hi Combiners,

Is there any consensus, or even a simple majority, on how to handle this? I can alias an author split directly to his pseudonym but then the bulk of his works will appear under his lesser known name OR I can alias the pseud. to the unsplit author and then assign all the works. Why oh why can't we just assign directly to a split?

Thoughts.

Is the pseudonym a split author? Only split authors can be aliased.

We are talking about a well known author with a less well known pseudonym. I would assume that there might be a genre difference between the two names. If so, there might be some benefit to being able to see which works were published under which name.

If the pseudonym is split, I would alias that split and assign the works.

If the pseudonym is not split, I don't know without seeing the author pages. Sending several works published under the real name to the pseudonym doesn't seem right. Although they would still be available on the author's split page.

The simplest solution might seem to be to combine the pseudonym and carry on from there. However if that pseudonym were ever to have another author with the same name, there would be a horrible mess to undo. And there is no clear way to see which works were written under which name.

In any case it would be important to enter CK and good disambiguation notes.

The split name from the more common author has approx a dozen work but the pseudonym, which is a single entity/un-split, has only 2 works to his name. The genres are not wildly dissimilar so I'm not sure why the different name.

If we're only talking about two books, I'd probably combine.

How many works are by other authors of the same name as the more common name? (i.e. how many works are on other splits of the common author name?)

(Actually linking to the authors in question would make it easier to discuss and make judgements.)

>5 r.orrison: It would help wouldn't it?

The split https://www.librarything.com/author/wardchris-2

and the pseudonym https://www.librarything.com/author/bentonjack

I knew it. I had combined the pseud with the main author and assigned the split works, and it's been undone.

>7 bernsad:

Well, that would be right. Because you should not combine "Maurice Hotziplotz" with "John Jones" if there is more than one "John Jones".

Frankly, there's no good way to handle this, but the right way, if you want all the books on the same page, would be to alias the appropriate "John Jones" to the pseudonym.

>8 lilithcat: It makes less sense to have all his works appear under the pseudonymous name.

>9 bernsad:

And what if every one of the at least 7 authors on the page has a pseudonym? What a mess!

Just adding to my previous:

From the Wiki: Should be combined: Pen Names ("Samuel Clemens" and "Mark Twain"), UNLESS there is another author by the same of either name

>11 Collectorator: Are you denying meddling with it?

>12 lilithcat: I haven't seen the Wiki and apparently I'm wrong, thanks for taking the time to help me. >2 MarthaJeanne:, >5 r.orrison:, >12 lilithcat:

>14 bernsad:

You're very welcome, and I do get how weird this can seem. I wish there were a better way to handle these situations.

>16 Collectorator:

I don't know why I bother, but . . . no, I did not separate them. I did not check that page and comment here until after >7 bernsad: was posted.