Ahh Dick, thanks for the feedback. If you're still around, Heather Upfield in Edinburgh says hello.

I wish it were simpler here. One problem for me is that by getting to know about 30 Mudcatters fairly well, two things happened. Number one: I would easily get protective when someone I liked was attacked. I (and others) would quickly respond in kind to the nasty one, knowing full well that would only encourage them. Number two: I've become increasingly open about my personal beliefs, joys, sorrows and idiocyncracies. I simply found a community that interested me for the most part. Not something that I'd found before in the mainstream world. It's not like chatting to folks who share your hobby, ie: baseball, Shakespeare, stock trading etc. It's the folk music "thing". It's a "lifestyle" and this is the only community of it's kind that I can visit without traipsing across several countries (which I'm trying to cut down on). I've invested heavily in this community, and even though I feel it's become much too broad (and reflects that mainstream, that doesn't really interest me) it's difficult to leave..but getting harder to stay.

Rick