And, of course, many DT texts are copied from sources that didn't include tunes in the first place; some of these are 'Child' ballads for which there is no known melody in any case. My personal feeling is that it is better to provide no melody rather than provide one which may never have been used with the text in question, or which is not properly identified. DT files frequently link to unnamed, unidentified tunes that may be anything at all; no information is provided.

Were all those unidentified tunes really sent in without source information? Not the ones I provided (several hundred, I think), though the essential contextual info I included has frequently been omitted or misquoted, both in the DT and in the Mudcat midi annexe.

I agree with Ferrara. The source database needs to be an online version, converted to an easily updateable form in a current format (SQL rather than the obsolete AskSam). That isn't hard to do.

Once there is a reliable central resource into which corrections can be entered as they arise (instead of five or more years too late) standalone versions can be built from it at whatever intervals best suit. Trying to do it the other way round just isn't going to work any more.