[Judge Ito]

Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel

I just don't see why game CDs with redbooks should be included in a database with official soundtracks just because you can stick them in a CD player and play them.

And I don't see why a disc full of video game music should be excluded just because it doesn't have "OST" stamped on it.

Sorry for re-opening old wounds, but this thread concerns a question I've wanted to ask and I didn't want to start another thread. How can this place be "a database of videogame music" when you effectively exclude half that music?

Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel

So, perhaps someday someone will make an attempt at cataloging every piece of music that has ever been in a game, but that's quite a daunting task, and I don't think anyone is currently working on it.

We're all working on it. It's spread across many different websites in at least two different languages. Moby Games, Wikipedia, that one Japanese site that lists almost every composer ever except it's all in Japanese, SNESmusic.org, Project 2612, etc. You have the opportunity to include and unify that information here, but you won't because of some stubborn view you maintain towards the legitimacy of a soundtrack.

Why not open artist pages to include text-only amendments (as in, not full-fledged album entries) so that we might flesh out the artists' discographies / game-ographies?

Let's look at Lords of Thunder for PC-E. We know Satoshi Miyashita, a member of T's Music (both of which already have artist pages), composed the soundtrack. What's to keep us from adding "1993 - April 23 - Lords of Thunder - Composer" to the top of his discography? We even have enough information to tie each track to an in-game event, so we could create an album entry if we wanted but we don't even have to do that. Noting this work on the artist's page would be more than enough for the time being.

And if you desperately need these entries to be categorized as something, consider adding an Original Game Audio, Redbook, or Music from Cartridge/Disc category. This last category could even open the door to Scene releases and music disks, like those from YM Rockerz. They're certainly not that much different than the doujin releases you already cover.

Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel

For now though, we've got lots of work to do just concentrating on albums.

Wouldn't you say we've got a pretty firm grasp on that already? At any given time on the Updates page, there are about 8 or 9 different names that come up. They're adding an old release here and there, but more often than not they're just adding the ever-growing list of new releases. The 8 or 9 of you have an extensive grasp on obscure soundtrack releases, and no one's doubting that. I'm also very thankful that you're able to neatly organize and present the upcoming releases as well. Meanwhile, there are members like myself with the knowledge to help grow the site in a direction that you admittedly want to take it in, but are unable to help due to a subjective decision.

The About page claims "the true expertise exists out there in the collective masses of our audience, so all of you are invited to participate in growing and shaping this database so that it might reach its full potential", but you've limited that potential by driving this arbitrary wedge between what you deem legit and illegitimate.

Please consider allowing users to edit artist pages to include the artist's full work.
And please excuse me if any of the issues I've brought up have been covered in other threads; I haven't read through the entire board's history.