I will support almost any update that is done to hobbes, but I don't know if Curtis have the time and resources to make updates on the script.
Some important changes that I think that hobbes requires are: (personal opinion)
- An active administrator (or group of administrators) that can move content and update the descriptions of the files.
- A way to upload files from the web and have an easy form to add the information of the file instead of the txt file.
- A mirror or active replication to the Internet Archive.
You must remember that HOBBES is a learning tool for students. I think that Curtis only gets involved if things really go bad. There is usually a student assigned to it, for one semester (and sometimes, nobody is assigned to it, which is why it goes for months without being updated). In that semester, the student needs to learn what needs to be done, then create the tools to do it (that is why the rules, like upper/lower case file names, change sometimes). It is one of the student's tools that moves content, and updates the file descriptors, not an administrator, and certainly not a group of them.
I expect that this discussion happened because nobody has the time to keep weeding out the garbage that some people, sadly, insist on uploading. The basic operation of the site doesn't need to change. All that needs to change is the authority to upload files, and an easy way to revoke that authority, when necessary.
It is true, that it could be better, but then there would need to be more people involved, and that probably won't happen.