I thought I said that in post #10
By golly, you did!
I just didn't see it. I'm not always as alert at night after work as I'd like to think I am.
I'm comparing my old lists, all the other lists, and scanning to see what's floating around in the airwaves. Then seeing what works, what doesn't work, what seems to work but doesn't...
One thing you'll find is that any repeater directory will, at best, be full of holes and inaccuracies or, at worst, be completely and utterly useless.
...But, one of the repeaters that has been decommissioned "for years", well, I'm picking up a repeater on that frequency. Don't know where it's at, can't raise it with my radios, but I hear it every now and again.
There's a good possibility that what you're hearing is either someone squatting on the abandoned channel, or the local frequency coordinator has assigned the channel to someone else. Repeater coordinations aren't always made public. That seems to be a local preference. Here in California, for example, UHF coordinations are private, unless the coordinee wants the data published. This produces the result of databases showing huge gaps in activity, when the reality is every channel is coordinated several times over.
I don't know how it is in your area, but it's likely the same.
It's turning into quite the treasure hunt.
It can be. It's probably not reasonable to expect that you'll uncover everything out there. Databases and repeater lists are notoriously inaccurate. Frequency coordinators are loath to publish frequencies for private repeaters, of which there are lots of on 70cm. Activity can be low enough that unless you're in the right place at the right time, you can miss what activity is actually there.
I guess what you have to ask yourself is, to what end are you trying to list repeaters? Are you trying to compile an accurate list of who/what is out there, or are you looking for a home to your 70cm activity? An accurate list is probably an exercise in futility. There are just too many reasons why the data won't just fall into your lap.