The general principle isn't "bandwidth" - it's space on the Forum Menu. If a single topic gets five or more spaces on the Forum menu, things are out of balance and less-publicized menu items don't get the attention they deserve. So, we generally set a limit of one active thread for any given subject (including repetitive jokes), and we enforce limits on thread duplications by combining or closing them. For the same reason, we do not permit ALLCAPS thread titles, although we usually tolerate one title word in Allcaps.

I'll admit that the "Folk Singers who Have Died" thread title was almost begging for parody. And I suppose if somebody posted a parody within the thread, it have been condemned as "disrespectful to the dead." But when the Forum Menu had a half-dozen parody threads, that drew attention away from the more useful threads. Besides, that sort of silly duplication makes us look stupid - and far too many people think that of us already.

And while I'm on my soapbox, let me state my personal opinion that "list" threads are useless and annoying. The "dead folkies" thread would have been beneficial if it had provided links to biographical information about the dead people. If the song lists were to provide links to the lyrics of songs (or whatever), that would be a different story. What bugs me most are song lists that include songs that haven't been posted here. If you think so highly of a song, why not make sure we have it and that people can find it? Oftentimes, I will turn "list threads" into links, so the threads have more value. But then I had some Mudcatter chew me out because a moderator had changed a word in his message to a link....

-Joe-