Hi again,

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate the input and that you've taken the time to get back to me.

Will - the other website I was talking about was also called the Folk Directory, but it now seems to have gone. The UKfolkmusic site you link to says it will have a database soon but that they will charge a subscription fee, which I personally think is ridiculous. I made the Folk Directory to be a free resource yet people now seem to want to make some money from it.

I have been somewhat proactive myself, and I am glad to say that people have also been keen to add their events. There are some things built into the site to try and find out-of-date listings, which should help me stay on top of it.

Sorry that you found nothing in West Sussex. There are 384 events listed - obviously nobody from West Sussex has added to the database yet!

Dennis - We do list folk clubs, and so far there are 116 of them: click here to see them.

SteveT and BB - Updating every single event myself would be a near-impossible task. The idea is that people update the information about their events. In any case, the Directory provides contact details so that organisers can be contacted. So far, organisers have been active in updating their listings.

I think local listings are invaluable, and the Folk Directory does not intend to, and could never, replace these sites. I suppose that the Folk Directory will be useful to different people for different reasons. For example, I've had emails from young people saying that it helped them find their first folk clubs and festivals, and emails from overseas visitors that used the Folk Directory to find an event to attend on their travels.

I like your idea regarding linking to local listings and have taken it on board. My plan is to incorporate links to local listings into the search, so, for example, if no listings are found for a county, the Folk Directory suggests some other sites to look at. This should be incorporated in the next few weeks.

As for the trademark thing - when I first made the Folk Directory, I didn't realise that there had previously been a paper publication of this name; I only found out about this subsequently. I understand that the paper publication has not been published for some time, so I can't imagine that it would be a problem. Also, I can't imagine that EFDSS or folky people in general would get too hung up on these things (or I would like to think they wouldn't)!

Thanks again everyone :)

Glen