Not the point, Steve.

Mudcat is a valuable, useful resource. Among other things it hosts the Digital Tradition database, which contains the words and some tunes of thousands of traditional songs, along with posts that talk about the histories and backgrounds of those songs. And if one has a question about a particular song or particular singer, a quick and generally knowledgeable answer is usually forthcoming often within minutes of asking the question. This, along with frequent bulletins about who is singing where—not to mention learning about good singers you may have never heard of before. Questions about musical instruments, the histories of songs, all kinds of things frequently answered by someone highly knowledgeable in the area you're asking about.

As to the B.S. section, you have a non-musical forum where, again, you're able to express an opinion on politics and world happenings in general and get feedback. Naturally, people being what that are and the world being what it is, not everyone is going to agree with you, but therein lies its value. One can read a variety of opinions and viewpoints, sometimes gain new insights, and hone one's debating skills for discussions in the 3-D world.

Or, perhaps, in the face of a cogent, intelligent, and well reason argument, one may indeed gain new insights into the issue ("I never thought of it that way before!") and change one's mind.

BUT—

Not if someone responds to your post with something like:

"What kind of a moron are you!!!?????? Where did you pick up a stupid idea like that, out of some so-called liberal propaganda sheet??????? Take your moronic opinions and stuff them up your ass, you retard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

……is not exactly conducive to rational discussion. Yet, that seems to be the style of an increasing number of people who have slithered their way onto Mudcat, particularly the B.S. section.

But fortunately, that number is small. This is where I think the moderators should be concentrating their efforts a bit more intently. People HAVE been blocked from Mudcat, including the B.S. section, for behaving like foul-mouth barbarians. Notably, "Martin Gibson," and a couple of others whose whole intention was to disrupt discussions and make people angry.

AND perhaps drive them away from Mudcat, thereby depriving themselves of a valuable resource.

I refuse to be driven off Mudcat, even off the B.S. section, by people who seem to be incapable of civilized behavior. That's THEIR problem, not mine!

Don Firth