Exactly ;-)
But posting a full handbook on the boards might not be cool.
I thought about that myself, but here's my take.
1) 3rd edition is dead. WotC killed it when they moved onto 4th. Even more so now that they are making 5th.
2) We're not making money.
3) A handbook includes information as to why individual spells are screwed. Comments as to how to use things and why they suck or are awesome. With luck, WotC will, instead of having a knee jerk response of saying, "Roll Out The Lawyers!" will take the time to read the handbook and say, "Hey, wait a sec... is THAT what we were doing wrong?
They claim that D&D Next is "We are going to listen to you this time. No. REALLY!"
Okay, here's your chance. I've made a handbook about every single spell in a defunct system you arn't even supporting anymore. Loot my handbook for useful ideas and make D&D next as awesome as you claim it will be.
I suppose I should bring it up now...
That is my only problem with the OP's work. It's just a reprint. I didn't find anything new. Now, that said, nothing I did was that new. I stole 99% of the comments that I added to my handbook. I admit it. But I did contribute 1%. I DID add some excellent examples and suggestions. I did try to expand on the spell entries and point out problems and wonderful combinations.
Maybe I just didn't look deep enough into OP's file, because I just kinda skimmed it. But there are plenty of Compilations out there. Stormseeker's jumps out at me. God bless that OCD SOB. My goal in all my nutty work is to say, "Here's what's awesome. Here's what's sucks. Here's why." Maybe I'm just howling in the darkness, but I'm hoping that someone somewhere will read what I've done and say, "You know, he's right. We can do this better."
And as I've said before, take my work and loot it. Splice my notes into yours. I don't WANT credit. I want a better mouse trap. I will admit, OP's work is impressive. Much more extensive than mine. But I got spells already. New 3rd party is fine, but I don't need them.
I'd like to have a big chart that lists every possible scroll in a random table. I'd like to have a file I can stick into my CrystalBall program and have it spit out random Scrolls/Wands/Potions for me. Sticking the Spell lists into CB was a huge project in and of itself. I don't have time for the random tables.
I guess my point is, I love the work. It's a good start. Now let's DO something with the data. I was talking about
3.M on another thread. THAT would be cool. Everyone in the board grabs a letter and ever spell with that letter get's researched and fleshed out like how I was doing on my
"What can you do with..." thread. That would be awesome.