Underestimating it how, exactly?

I'm not saying DT & the Mudcat archive should turned into an exclusively academic resource. What I am saying is someone needs to rescue the DT & the music post archive before it is lost through inept and incompetent "maintenance" and relegated to the internet poorly managed archive graveyard.   

Many people active in the folk music community in North America, Europe and beyond who either never posted to the forum or no longer post here, happen to recognize that DT and the music archive will only have long term value to the music community if control of it is wrested away from Max & Dick.

Many people search the DT and never bother with forum, because it is obvious in a couple seconds perusing that the forum is made up of a bunch of boobs.

The standards need to be raised, and serious expertise, time, and money put into the collection & archive to make it viable and valuable to lay people, musicians, and scholars, now and into the future.

I have seen absolutely no evidence of that happening. Not now, not ever seems to be the motto. The forum playground is the thing now, the DT & music post archive be damned.

It is precisely that attitude that makes this place worthless to everyone in the folk music community, except the small handful of people who kidnapped the forum years ago, and continue to hold it hostage--guarded by bullies like Max, Joe Offer and Big Mick.

The only posts that have made any reasonable suggestions in this entire thread (like I said earlier, a lot of heat, no light here) are Cruiser's 12:49 post, and pdq's 1:46 post.

Now, I can even agree that Joe Offer might be doing a fine job of doing what he is doing. But my point is, that isn't what the DT & music archive needs people doing.

What Max, Joe & the clones are doing is likely just what a chat forum dominated by bullies and baboons needs to have done. But to equate/conflate that work with the work that needs to be done on the DT/archive for the benefit of the online folk & blues music community is seriously delusional.

If Max wants to know how this place turned into yet another Brit dominated "what's on" board w/an off-topic rant & rave section for adults w/stunted ego development, he need only look at what he put his energy and resources into.

There is a reason why you won't find bluegrass, newgrass, old time, gospel or blues music people here.

This place is complete and utter turn off to most people looking for online music resources and communities. Those of us who ever came here to begin with, left this place behind years ago. We found other more valuable music "treasures" both online and off, where we aren't made to suffer the fools and SNR one is forced to endure here.