How you can help

Obviously, this thing is going to be a perpetual work-in-progress. I'm constantly updating the database based on information from the net and elsewhere, but I certainly can't cover all the bases. With that in mind, here are a few more specific things that would help:

• Pick a particular artist and look it up in the index. If you didn't find it, let me know and I'll add it. Am I missing anything in the Releases or Compilations list? Do you know of a home page (or any other Internet resource that has a URL) that isn't listed there? Better yet, write up a description of the artist that includes a brief review of the artist's significant releases (Look under Format for more information about what the entries are supposed to look like).
  As far as these descriptions go, I think anything at all is better than nothing at all. If you know something about a group but can't be bothered to write anything more than "noise band from Albuquerque" (for example), go ahead and send it to me anyway. Perhaps later you or someone else will come up with more than that.
• Take that same artist and try to find it in the category index. Do you think it's in the right category? For that matter, are there other categories you think would be useful? Take a look under Categories for my general philosophy on how things are divided up.
• There are lots of compilations that I know about but don't have any data for. Two specific examples would be the "Technopolis" and "Body Rapture" series of EBM compilations. Look up the Compilations Index and see if you can add anything there.
• Do you have your own record collection in a computer file of some kind? Is it locatable via ftp or the Web, or would you like to mail it to me? There are various ways for me to import data from lots of formats (Excel, dBase, etc.) into my database.
• I'm trying to think of an interesting name for this site. "Music Database" is just a placeholder for now, but that's not very exciting, and it doesn't really tell you what kind of music is in here. Can you think of a cooler name that I can use?
• There isn't any way to do searching in the database. I think it would be really useful to be able to enter partial band names and get a list of matching artists. I'm a real newbie when it comes to CGI scripts and searches, so if you're knowledgeable about that stuff, let me know.

I don't really know what I can offer you in return for helping me out, but at least you'd be listed on the Credits Page (how's that for incentive?), and of course your name would appear along with anything you write for the artist narrative descriptions.

I almost forgot one of the most important points. Right now there isn't any way for you to update the database automatically. The way to do it is to just send me mail (to the address below) and I'll incorporate the changes into the next version (I update it about once every two weeks or so).