I am writing as a guest but I used to frequent this forum quite often. Harpgirl said she was asking this be moved to a chat room and she is right. It is this very type of thread which put me off several months ago. I could tolerate some of the argumentative threads like the armalite thread and I could even put up with some of the members who got into all the daft silliness. They were and still are very valuable for their serious contributions to the Mudcat. But over the past few months there has been a steady decline in the quality of the threads and the reponse given to Harpgirl was not warranted IMHO. She has proven herself over the years to be a substantial contributor here and many of the newbies seem only interested in chatting away about nothing.

Kelida, what have YOU contributed? Have you added any song lyrics aside from the ridiculous Songbook? Done any research? How about you firehair? Do you even know who Harpgirl is? Do you have any idea what she has done? Are you aware of the quality of performer she is? Sadly, you don't care do you? Some of us do. And that is why some have left and like myself return to find continuing deterioration of a site we once loved. You'll notice even Catspaw was making fun of this thread. That alone should tell you that it lacks merit and does NOT belong here. He is one I have often criticized for being chatty, but he has also been important for his serious contribution of knowledge and the real compassion, humor, and intelligence of many of his postings.

We seem to have many new members who only have one side and let the music take the hindmost. I hate posting this way because I have always used my given name, but too many here are no longer to be trusted.