Independent of everything else is collecting the data, which can be done by as many parties as volunteer, and requires no tech savvy whatsoever

OK, when you say "collecting the data", are you seeing that as somehow different from "inputting the data"?

In my idea, there was for instance an "edit actor" page, where you would record that Charisma played Cordelia in episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of Series One, but wasn't in episode 7. That would be done with checkboxes, I guess?

You would also somehow be able to record that SMG played "Buffy" in nearly every episode, but also played "BuffyBot" in a couple. That would require some kind of multiple drop-menu system listing all possible characters.

Are you thinking that we record and enter the information independantly of there being a nice form-interface for this kind of thing?

The data needs to be collected before it's entered. I don't remember how people were volunteering -- I seem to remember folks choosing actors, or something.

But if you're going to heads down enter it, it's best to have it conveniently to hand. Not collect/enter/collect/enter, if I make sense.

The data needs to be collected before it's entered.

That's the question I'm begging.

If we do it that way, then the two processes can happen in parallel, the making of the interface and the collecting of the data. But it's more boring. Someone will have a long list of "episodes in which Wesley appears" and someone (else?) will have to tick the boxes.

If we write edit-actor.php first, then the collection and entering can be simultaneous. You could sit there for instance with an ep list and just check the boxes for the ones in which Faith appears.

I don't remember how people were volunteering -- I seem to remember folks choosing actors, or something.

That was my suggestion. People would nominate to "adopt" an actor or a character.

Someone will have a long list of "episodes in which Wesley appears"

guilty

It doesn't make a whit of difference when the info's collected, as long as its done before its entered. It's just a predecessor in the task list, and does not have to be the same resource, is all.

It doesn't make a whit of difference when the info's collected, as long as its done before its entered.

OK, disclosure, I had three beers over lunch, but ita, you and I are still talking at cross porpoises.

Model A: People collect data, and write it down in some way. Time passes. Then either they or someone else goes through that data, when an editing interface is ready, and puts it in.

Model B: An editing/inputting interface is made ready. People can then sit at their computers going through the Watchers' Guide or the Unofficial Guide to Buffy by Keith Topping, or flipping windows between our site and another site, or any other method, and grab the info and enter it at the same time. "Episode X, blah blah blah Riley blah blah blah Initiative, blah blah blah -- Willy's Bar. Aha! Saverio Guerra appears in this episode as Willy." Click.

So, I'm probably being obtuse, but Model B was the way I imagined it.

Whichever way is good, John. Neither one breaks the system. Point being, the data is collected either way before it's entered (ala PMM), or just before it's entered.

Why is that confusing?

Why is that confusing?

See above re: beer for lunch probably.

Model B implies that we put the functionality together, but with a mostly-empty database, then people just enter the data directly. I don't know why but that's the way I always imagined it.

Model A implies two separate and probably simultaneous working parties, one working on the interface, one making lists -- but it also appears to me like duplication of effort. You make a list, then you enter it.

I think it's only about modes of work. If work is parcelled to me by actor, I'm going to go through and find everything JM was in, and then I'm going to enter it. You might not. Both of us will have collected everything JM was in and entered it, though. I can start now, you won't start until the system's up.

That's all. Both things still have to be done.

You were very nearly devoured by a giant demon snake. The words 'let that be a lesson' are a tad redundant at this juncture.

Giles, 'Never Kill A Boy On The First Date'

This is actually from "Reptile Boy."