This place has kept me sane over the years.

I found it first as the place that kept having that last line that I was seeking for whichever old song I'd had on records, but came to consider it a personal friend.

I was one of the first people to post something that wasn't music-related but was important (imo), and that I wanted/needed to discuss with my good friend and favorite largish community of like minds. I got *some* grief for it but only the "this is a music site" kind, no ad hominem or other insults.

Before that, if I wanted to discuss something with my friend that was important to me but unmusical, I couched it as a music thread; one strong memory is when I didn't get custody of my small twins I posted about looking for songs about that, and people did discuss me and my kids which was what I needed, but I had the, shall we say grace? Politeness? Consideration? Tact? to couch it in the terms the forum preferred. Then I got tactless, as one does with good friends, got off my better behavior and started being me, which meant sometimes just posting things that I thought the forum would enjoy talking about, or about which I needed the help of my friend. Now, I like that there are above and below the line, and I mostly enjoy both. But I also am willing to stop reading when a thread devolves into the mud.

Speaking of which this conversation should be above the line, no? It's about Mudcat which makes it directly relevant.