Maybe what all this navel-staring demonstrates is a need by Max to take a long, hard look at the Mudcat and concede that the whole BS thing is a bandwidth-hogging hornets' nest that would be better junked.

Why was the BS section added to this board?

In my experience, the need for that sort of outlet develops when the collection of posters become a community and begin to interact with one another beyond the intended topics of the threads. In order to keep the threads from annoying drifting, new off topic threads are started. The off topic threads become so numerous that community members who care only about the main topic(s) of the board become frustrated with wading through to find the real posts and complain. A new section is created to house the off topic posts.

Did that happen at Mudcat, or have there always been two sections? It seems to me that having the two sections allows members a choice of participating in the larger community, or not.

In my opinion, the ability to post on Mudcat as a guest is too often abused by mean spirited registered members with long standing grudges. Many of the problems would be solved if guest postings were not allowed. I'm guessing that the current software doesn't allow different settings for above and below the line, though?

I wonder if anyone in charge might consider switching to one of the excellent and inexpensive forum programs, such as Invision, which has much flexibility in settings for individual sections and moderation?

rags