Now you are wondering why your name is listed here at all; after all, we're not some kind of "fan" site. The simple answer is that we are a "Dead Pool" contest of long standing.

Currently there are six avenues through which your name may find it's way into the Book of the Dead database. They are:

1. You are alive, at least modestly "notable," and a contest entrant has predicted that you would die during the current or a previous contest year. Once your demise has been predicted your name stays in the list even if you are never again predicted to croak. As you grow older and future potential entrants browse through the database someone may decided to pick you again. And, if they never again do, upon your death someone will mentally kick themself, thinking that they should have put you on their list.

2. You are alive, at least modestly "notable," but no contest entrant has ever predicted your demise. However, the Audit Committee has noted your existence and thought it likely that you could be selected by some future entrant. They also like to stay head of the Reaper by collecting biographical data before it is needed. The most frequent trigger for this type of inclusion into the database is a newspaper article or tv story on an individual that catches our eye.

3. You are dead and you were picked during one or more contest years. Your entry remains in the database as a reminder to people to not predict your death again, although some people won't check the database and select you anyway. Elvis, Hitler, Francisco Franco; they're all still dead.

4. You are dead but nobody ever picked you. However, you were a sufficiently "notable" individual that you could have scored points for an entrant if you had been picked during a contest year.

5. Someone sent a snail/E-mail query about you. "Why isn't «your name here» in the database?" If you've had some kind of documented brush with notariety we'll probably add you to our collection of names & factoids (just ask the guy who was the first person to cross Lake Michigan in a bathtub).

6. You are a "lateral" «or» "backward" reference. Many entries will contain references to co-authors, co-developers, collaborators and the like. When one part of a team is added to the database we also try to add their co-horts. In the case of stage/screen/tv personalities we usually try to add the directors of their listed performances; off the director's entry we'll try to add the name of the playwright on which the show was based; off the playwright we'll link to a person who wrote the novel that the script was based upon; off the novelist we'll link to the real-life person on whom the novel was based; .... the addition of a single name to the database may spawn the addition of several other names which in turn spawns the addition of more names .... ad infinitum. Right now, for every new entry that we make based upon the previous five inclusion criteria we'll add another three to four additional entries in support of the original entry.

   Our link rot problem is horrendous; there are already in excess of 250,000 internal cross referencing links to be maintained. Every time we make a minor change in one entry we may need to change numerous other database entries to accomodate the original change. If you are named here but the information shown in your entry is incorrect or incomplete we welcome your input.

So, in summary, once in, you stay in - that way people from around the world can look you up and see what your current status is. And, if you are really "steamed" about being in the list (with a bunch of miscreant fool entrants having selected you) you are free to enter the following year's contest yourself and place all of the previous years' entrant selectors on your list; turnabout is fair play!