I'm going to confess right now that I haven't red through every post in this thread - which is why I haven't posted up to now. But here's a couple thoughts anyway -

First, thank you Max for creating this space and this community. If there were any question of its value, you'd only have to look at the friendships and even marriages that have happened because of your work and generosity.

Mention has been made of the Mudcat CDs - I wonder if it might be time for a new one? A lot of us weren't here or active when they first came out, and surely there's enough energy and material for a new release. Besides, CDs are cheaper and cheaper to make! (I'm not volunteering to produce this one, but I'd gladly participate!)

I like the idea of the BS being for members only. The downside is that sometimes members will want to login as guests to post things that aren't offensive necessarily, but that might be strong opinions that could interfere with their outside lives and relationships if someone at a job interview were to google them in 3 or 4 years. On the other hand, it would cut down on trolling and rancor, forcing people to take responsibility for what they say. If we lose some posts, so be it - not everything should be said just because it could be said.

In some ways, Mudcat seems like a social networking site for folkies - albeit one created on a very different model than MySpace, Facebook and the like. I wonder if by embracing that aspect of things (perhaps more detailed profile pages?) we could build on some of the amazing community we already have.

Thank you again, Max, for all you're doing!

Dan