In another response to Ed Whitley, I explained that the Disciples section, as now developed, can be understood from a traditional author-centered viewpoint as featuring what we might call the collaborative Whitman, an aspect of his work all but completely ignored in the New York University Press multi-volume print edition of his works.  If we later extend the Disciples section to other people who had a close relationship with Whitman but didn't co-author with him in any sense (Anne Gilchrist to take one example), then we will face questions regarding who to include and why.  If the section expands a great deal, does the religious or semi-religious implication of the term still work as well?
 
An equally important issue has been raised about the internal integration of the site.  More can be done as the site develops more fully and we have time to implement what we have envisaged.  The Traubel volumes, for example, could be linked to various Whitman texts mentioned in them.  The correspondence often mentions journalistic pieces, and we can link to them once we have edited them.  The list goes on.....
 
Claire Warwick suggests that the site be flattened to some degree so that users can get to the content they want with less clicking.  We understand this point.  We have improved this aspect of the site somewhat over the years.  One potential cost of flattening might be to lessen the clarity of the site's organization, an aspect of the <em>Whitman Archive</em> that everyone seems to like.