I have been avoiding poking my nose into this, but will. I am a subscriber to Sing Out! and was a wee bit alarmed when I saw the post on rec.music.folk, which is the same that Jack Campin was referring to.

I will add that the poster's email was familiar to me, but I couldn't place it. After searching the archives of another newsgroup that I read (RMMGA or rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic), I found out why: a couple of years ago he had verbally attacked a couple of regular posters in this other newsgroup. The behaviour was totally unwarranted and puzzling as the recipients of the abuse had done nothing to provoke this guy.

If the poster is Greg Austin, who had signed the post, he has no credibility as far as I am concerned. I also did a search for the organisation and all I turned up was a list of acronyms.

Rather than an invite to NAMB, I'd suggest an invite to Mark Moss. Mark is always very up front about what is happening with Sing Out! as well as other issues that are important in the folk music world. Over the years he has earned my respect with his contributions to many of the forums and listservs that discuss folk music.

Debra Cowan