Well, since I have done the same work, I'll add a few comments.
People really don't appreciate how incredibly long it takes to make these announcements. When I did them I would often put it off for far too long, because doing it required having a free day to devote to a tiresome task. Of course, the longer I put it off, the more intimidating the task, because there were yet more files to announce. And the more I would put it off. I'm sure we've all experienced something like that.
It takes so long for two main reasons. The first is that simply assembling the text takes a long time and is tedious. You have to follow all of these links, copy and paste the URLs, get the file name and author name right, and categorise them. This is sometimes rendered harder not only by the contracted URLs that Blue Monkey talked about but by the fact that some authors give links to "library" threads containing many files (sometimes direct to the relevant post in that thread, sometimes just to the thread itself, forcing me to hunt through it) and some give links to threads devoted to a single file; some use showthread URLs and others use showpost URLs; some give links to forum threads, some to database pages, and some to the direct download from the database pages. I tried, and usually failed, to standardise these when compiling them into the announcement. Also, being an obsessive proof-reader, I worked hard to ensure that all files, authors, and comments were displayed in a consistent style, and that they were listed in a consistent order. Within category, I listed everything in the order in which it appeared in this thread - apart from different files by the same author, which were listed together, but within author they were again listed in chronological order. That takes time to do, and it also involves making more decisions: do unit packs, for example, get listed as single entries, or do all the units get their own entries? What about a "pack" of just two units? What about old, lost files that have been rescued and re-uploaded? This is why I fairly quickly abandoned the practice, which I initially followed, of adding comments of my own to each file. That just doubled the time.
The second reason it takes a long time is that the images take ages as well. First, like URLs, authors often don't provide these in an easily accessible way, let alone one that is consistent between everyone.
...
If Blue Monkey has particular guidelines that he wants creators to follow to streamline the process, then that's not only reasonable, it's entirely to everyone's benefit.
...
So please don't view this as an antagonistic issue or a conflict, but as a cooperative matter where different people have different roles and are there to help one another out.
Title: C3MT (civ3 Multi-tool)
