When I came here in the early days of the 'Cat, I'd get hammered by people like Elsie for daring to mention pop-folkies like Peter, Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio. I have Bruce (and others) to thank for their helpfulness, and for tolerance of my lack of knowledge of the really traditional stuff. Bruce has exposed me to some delightful music.

As time went on, I found myself complaining about the "BS" threads and the lack of serious music discussion. I think things are at a pretty good balance now - the "BS" threads are usually marked, and people seem to honor the music threads by not putting much in them that's frivolous. It's nice that I can now change thread names - when appropriate, I will add or delete the "BS" label, or add a few words to clarify the subject of a thread.

Although I spend as little time as possible in the "BS" threads, I've come to have a grudging respect for them - they keep people here, and that means they're available to participate in the music discussions that come up. If the forum were strictly music, I don't think our music threads would be as lively and interesting as they are.

-Joe Offer-