Well, I think "Ann Robinson" is off on her math. The last edition of the Digital Tradition came out TWO years ago, in April, 2000. It is an experimental Windows version. It has some bugs, but it works. If you send Dick five bucks, he'll burn you a copy.

Dick Greenhaus is the editor of the Digital Tradition, and he keeps pretty close control of it. It's his baby, something he's done out of personal dedication since 1988. Susan of DT shares responsibility with Dick, but it's Dick who puts the thing together. Jim Dixon and I harvest songs from the Mudcat and put them into proper format for the DT, and MMario has been working on tunes.

Mark Heiman has been working on developing new versions of the DT that will work on Windows and Mac. What he's developed looks promising, but it still has bugs.

Max converts the Digital Tradition to HTML and posts it at Mudcat when it's available. I don't know why the April 2000 version wasn't posted, but the most recent HTML version is October 1999.

Yes, all sorts of people have volunteered to tell Dick how to run the Digital Tradition - and Dick has very politely not responded to them. He chose Mark Heiman to do the technical work, and he chooses to do the editing himself.

If you want to help, look at the FAQ for ideas. Start a thread on a song or a number of interrelated songs, and do some research on them.

If you're hoping to see lots of singer-songwriter songs added to the DT, forget it. Some will be added, but remember that the database is the Digital Tradition. If you want to see songs get exposure, post them at Mudcat.

So, the answer to "Ann Robinson's" query is that the Digital Tradition belongs to Dick Greenhaus, and it's his right to do with it as he sees fit. If you don't like it, you're welcome to develop your own folk song database. If you don't like the job Dick does on editing, I suppose it's your right to speak your piece. Seems damn impolite to me, though. At the very least, it would be nice if you had the courage to use your name.

-Joe Offer-

Oh, and the information from Bryan Bowers was noted and submitted to the Digital Tradition. There hasn't been a new version of the DT out since I harvested and submitted the information.