Well, our Guest hasn't chosen to reveal the ultimately simple solution to our problems, so I guess we'll have to keep guessing. As Ebbie says, ignoring posts that upset or anger ain't easy to do. As I said above, it's hard to have a good time standing in waist-deep shit here and just not looking at it. I've been in houses like that, where the people tell me not to mind the dog shit on the floor because the puppy's having a bad day.....and then I suppose they wonder why I turn them down when they offer me food. And then the dog coughs up dinner, and it's all over for me.

There has been a definite change in tone here at Mudcat in the last year, an ongoing tone of animosity that has been much stronger than it ever had been before. We've had flareups before, but we've never had so many people who seem to see the animosity as worthwhile recreation. Picker's right - this is not the way to maintain a reputation as a credible Website.

I met Niamh Parsons at a house concert a couple of months ago, and I was surprised that she knew right away who I was - but the first thing she talked about was all those awful people who cause all that nastiness at Mudcat. I wonder how many others we've scared out of active participation.

So, yeah, I think we need to do something to put an end to this, to make Mudcat a peaceful place where people can disagree (or agree) respectfully and logically. I just wish we knew how to make that happen.

-Joe Offer-