For introductions: my name is Matt, and I'm a Brin fan. (The crowd replies in unison: "Hi Matt"! Gawd, that sounds like an introduction at an AA meeting! <grin> )
About a year ago a friend introduced me to the books by dr. David Brin. I have since become a big fan of his novels, especially of his two Uplift trilogies. While searching the Internet for more information on dr. Brin and his works in general and Uplift in particular, I found he must be quite popular, judging by the number of Google search results (a search on "David Brin" returns 34,800 links, a search on "David Brin" plus "Uplift" is good for 5,500 hits).
I also discovered mr. Shipley's "Alliance for Progress Encyclopedia" (hereafter referred to as A4PE). I must admit I was very impressed; he has produced a magnificent piece of work here! I cannot even begin to consider how many hours he must have spent on it!
A little later I also found a message by mr. Shipley in which he announced he had lost interest in the A4PE and offered it to whoever would take it off his hands.
I recently informed him that I would be more than happy to continue his work; the three of us (dr. Brin, mr. Shipley and yours truly) have since been discussing the matter. Upon dr. Brin's recommendation I have joined the Brin-L community. He advertised you as "a welcoming and friendly group", so I hope I will not be disappointed.
How does this community feel about a newcomer to this community taking over such a magnificent piece of work as the A4PE? If mr. Shipley and I reach an agreement (and I trust we will), would the members of this community be willing to aid me in improving and expanding the A4PE? Rough ideas for now are: include/expand items such as a complete cast of characters, information on the various characters and races, adding graphics, and improving the overall "look & feel" of the site. Any suggestions and help will be welcome and appreciated. I especially could use help in the field of graphics, as my own talents at designing graphics are not worth mentioning.
I believe this is enough for a first message. I look forward to further discussion!
With regards,
Matt Lundstrom
P.S. As I have other matters to attend to besides e-mail, I politely request that any messages pertaining to the topic of the A4PE be given the prefix [A4P] or [A4PE] in the subject header. Thank you for making my life a little bit easier.
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