As someone who has been around here forever, and gone through ebbs and flows, heaven knows, I stick to my belief that the Mudcat is the best place around.   The big difference for me is that for the first few years there were two really exciting things that have changed: one, just the blast of the Internet -- people were just discovering that you could do this kind of weird thiing, and it was fascinating to discover what worked and what didn't -- even trolls used to be interesting because it made you think about what makes an online community thrive or die; two, many of us were just trying to find folk songs, and folk lyrics, etc., which were not available. They are now available here, many thousands of them, and a huge range of topics has been covered.   While the folk universe is infinite, a whole pile of basic questions are already answered here. This makes it a little boring for old timers.   Another discussion of why the Fields of Athenry should be banned is not exactly going to wind our cranks. But there it is.

Also, I met Rick Fielding here, and a lot of other wonderful people, so it has my eternal allegiance.

It is still great, still fun. You never know what is going to turn up. THANK YOU MAX.

yours,

Peter T.