I've found that most efforts to control negativity in an Internet forum, usually only make things worse. "Standing your ground" against Internet bullies, only eggs them on. Any sort of attention serves to feed the trolls who cause trouble to serve their craving for attention. And those who seek combat, also seek an audience - so any attention paid to them, gives them just what they're seeking. Then there are the troublemakers I hate most - the self-righteous prigs who feign innocence and start discussions in areas that are bound to end in chaos. They, also, are craving attention.

I have a theory that many or most of these people are driven by their sexual inadequacy. They can't have a normal sex life, so they go on the Internet and cause trouble. When they succeed, it's an orgasm for them, so they masturbate. I'd hate to put my fingers anywhere near their keyboards.

There are all sorts of things that people think will control these distasteful people, but none of them seem to work. The only sure-fire tactic against Internet troublemakers, is silence; and the discipline of a silent response is almost impossible to maintain in a forum like this.

I did my best to try to keep the peace here for well over ten years, and then retired to doing music editing and indexing and tech help and registration. I'm much happier doing that, and there's no end of work to do. I'd like to see a "DTStudy or "Origins" thread exploring every single song in the Digital Tradition Database - and verifying the sources and lyrics of each song in the DT. I'd like to see more answers for our Unanswered Requests database (in the QuickLinks dropdown menu). I'd welcome help posting and exploring all the songs in Carl Sandburg's American Songbag. And I'd like to see people volunteer to update untended PermaThreads.

As I said, all the efforts to control the nastiness, just don't woirk. There IS one thing that works, however, and that's the music content here at Mudcat. When there are healthy, interesting music discussions, everything else seems to fall into line. People forget about the bickering, and the bickerers get bored. So, if you care about this forum, contribute something worthwhile to its content. Ask an intelligent question or make an intelligent comment in a thread. Look for interesting, older threads with the Filter and resurrect them by adding new information or questions. Post the text (not just a link) of an interesting article you've come across, and then say what you think about it. Posts that contain links and no information, are more-or-less worthless - if you care enough to post a link, take one step further and summarize what's in the link and say what you think about it. Take the time to use the Filter to look for existing threads to resurrect and continue on a subject before starting a new thread on something that's been discussed forty times before. Use care when giving a title to a thread, so it tells the community what you want to discuss.

In short, it's the positive things we all do, that make a difference here. Negative energy, even when it's meant to make things better, just creates more negative energy. Control of the bad things really doesn't work, although our Moderation Team works hard to keep the worst of the nastiness under control. But if you contribute intelligent questions and information, especially about folk music, you'll be amazed how much better this forum will be.

-Joe-