Salutations,

Its nice to see sites that are putting effort where their mouth is.
The databases you've set up here have the potential to be invaluable.
Its a pity that the group's "higher purpose" didn't really pan out,
but I do have a few observations:

Firstly, by making these databases open, you're giving a lot away for
free. I printed out your planets database and it already runs to over
50 pages. Yahoo lets you export tables, so anybody could take this and
turn it into a book that makes money with little or no effort. Your
other site has a copyright notice, so I wondered why you hadn't taken
that approach here?

Secondly, this is a lot of work to post without having a mirror site.
I presume you have a backup of your work, but there is nothing to
signpost members to if Yahoo closed your groups tomorrow. What are
your plans for protecting what you have done and ensuring it's
available beyond Yahoo?

Thirdly, you say you want the first volume of the concordance to be
about Time Lords/Gallifrey, but the planets database stands head and
shoulders above the rest in terms of being close to completion. It may
be best to pick a winner rather than to try to do everything.

Fourthly, who is participating vs. who is just looking? The task
database doesn't match up to the work that's being posted so far, and
given the changes you have made it might be better for people to
volunteer to produce A-Z lists.

Finally, I have comments about the questions you have asked (ie.
feedback on the planets database and ideas for other databases).

Planets & Locations: A fantastic piece of work so far. I tried to come
up with a few planet names from the TV series and you already had
them. This could easily evolve into an essential guide.

Other databases: Your TARDIS, TARDIS component and Gear databases
might work better with a starting point on this forum, porting them
over into the roleplaying one when the entries are finished. That will
make what you have here look more complete and more comprehensive, and
won't make what's over there look quite so unfinished. Against better
judgement (ie. its good to finish one thing before jumping into
another), here are my suggestions for new databases:

The Doctor's Pockets: Post 88 had a list of everything in the Doctor's
pockets ever. Its one of those silly things that some fans will
relish. Its silly but the original poster had clearly done something
which shouldn't be lost.

Books: There are a lot of fictional books in Doctor Who, and a
comprehensive list of them would be fun; enough to fill a TARDIS
library...

Inspirations: Discontinuity Guides list influences on original
stories. Imagine a cross-referenced, compiled list of such sources. An
ultimate reference guide for writers (I want to redo Frankenstein...
bugger, Brain of Morbius did it!) and for series researchers.

A Glossary of Technobabble and/or Hot Topics: Like an FAQ, but focused
on key words like Block Transfer, Memes, Morphic Resonance, etc.
Regeneration, Sleep

Characters: This will be the big one, and the hardest to complete, I
suspect. But a database of characters was the backbone to the original
L'Officier databank. You could approach it in manageable chunks:
Companions, Villains, Famous people the Doctor has met*, UNIT Members,
Gallifreyans, Innocent bystanders etc. etc.

(* My personal favourite)

Harald <hyderax@...>

You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in
common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the
facts to fit their views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to
be one of the facts that needs altering.