Any query on Mudcat surely deserves an informative and chatty answer. That generally does happen, but there is an unfortunate minority of people around here who delight in saying "look it up yourself, thicko", or alternatively "your spelling/typing/grammar is substandard". (In this context, I particularly like the magnificent riposte of the great JOhn from Hull: "this is a music sight, not a spelin sight").
    The practise of referring people to previous threads is often quite offensive and insulting, as well as a stifler of discussion. I appreciate this is an appropriate response to a technical query like "Is Way down to Lamorna really about Pomona?"; but if a newcomer wishes to discover how Mudcatters define "folk" (quite a sensible question, really, on a folkmusic site), I really dont see what purpose is served by telling them to look up previous threads on the subject. I go to the local pub to chat about the weather or local politics or the English canal system, I dont go there to be told what people said on these subjects three months ago. Conversation is a two way thing, lectures are something else.