Some people do sort of miss the point of what Mudcat is all about. [I will provide examples in a separate message.]

Maybe we need some kind of mission statement.

Don't laugh. When a search engine takes me to an unfamiliar web site, if the site looks interesting, if I think I might want to bookmark it and come back someday, I usually want to know: What is this site all about? Especially, what is its scope and purpose?

I will usually click on the "home" page of the web site. Most sites will have the word "home" somewhere in the upper left corner of every page. (Mudcat doesn't)

Once I'm on the home page, I look for a link that says "about us." (There is no such link at Mudcat.) That usually takes me to a page that tells me things like (1) who owns the site (2) what its purpose and scope is (3) whether they allow users to contribute, and if so, what kind of submissions do they want (or not want)?

Here are some things I like to see in an "about us" page (although not every site provides it):

(4) Some information about the history of the web site. Who founded it, when, and for what purpose? (5) How big is it? (Not how many gigabytes, but how many songs does it have?) (6) How was the information collected? (7) How can I contact the owners/administrators of the web site?


Here are some examples from web sites I like and use a lot:

The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music consists of over 29,000 pieces of American popular music. The collection spans the years 1780 to 1980, but its strength is its throrough documentation of nineteenth-century America through popular music. The collection is especially strong in music spawned by military conflicts from the War of 1812 through World War I, and minstrel music is also well-represented....

IN Harmony (at Indiana University):

IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana is a search and discovery system for accessing sheet music from the Indiana University Lilly Library, the Indiana State Library, the Indiana State Museum, and the Indiana Historical Society. Funded through a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), IN Harmony features Indiana-related sheet music - sheet music by Indiana composers, arrangers, lyricists or publishers as well as sheet music about the state....

Bodeian Library Broadside Ballads:

The Bodleian Library has unparalleled holdings of over 30,000 ballads in several major collections. The original printed materials range from the 16th- to the 20th-Century. The Broadside Ballads project makes the digitised copies of the sheets and ballads available to the research community.
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

The Irish Music & Dance Association:

The Irish Music and Dance Association is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit cultural and educational organization established to support, coordinate, encourage and promote high quality activities and programs in Irish music and dance in the Twin Cities community. We hope to foster greater awareness, understanding, appreciation of and participation in the traditional arts of Ireland and related cultural traditions.

CD Baby:

Who are we?
The Short Answer:
CD Baby is the largest online distributor of independent music. CDBaby.com (the site you're on right now!) is our quaint little record store where we hope you will discover your next favorite artist.
[In•de•pen•dent: (adj.) Not having sold one's life, career, and creative works over to a corporation.]
The Long Answer:
From our humble beginnings more than a decade ago....

honkingduck 78s:

78s on honkingduck
Audio
Listen to over 700 recordings of Old Time Music from the original 78 rpm records....
Discography
View lots and lots of discographical data on 78s....