Well, maybe I should rant a little more. When you post lyrics in the forum, you are submitting them for consideration for inclusion in the Digital Tradition Folk Song Database, which has international renown as a resource for folk music information. Since that's the case, I think people should make reasonable efforts to ensure accuracy, completeness, correct spelling and format, and songwriter attribution and copyright information. There is a section in the FAQ that describes the Digital Tradition Format, and that's the format people should follow when they are posting songs.

People have wondered why I say it takes us a half an hour to "harvest" a song that's been posted. It would go a lot quicker if people would remember to search first to see if the song has already been posted and or it it's in the Digital Tradition; and if they'd submit songs in proper format. It also helps if you give background information, and tell us how the song is related to other songs we may already have.

Yeah, we'd like to see people use a little care and scholarship when they post songs. It would take a lot of guesswork out of the job of harvesting.

-Joe Offer-