Let me explain one more time what it is I am proposing, since there is obviously some confusion out there.

First of all, "Mudcat" doesn't have to do do ANYTHING other than supplying a new category called Folk Venues. By "Category", I mean the list of optional prefixes which you can choose when you are creating a new thread. We already have :

Lyric Request
Lyric Add
Lyric and Chords Request
Tune Request
Tune Add
Public Help Question
BS

My suggestion is that there be another category which would be called Folk Venues, so now the menu would look like this:

Lyric Request
Lyric Add
Lyric and Chords Request
Tune Request
Tune Add
Public Help Question
BS
Folk Venues

All clear so far?

Now, when somebody wants to initiate a thread regarding the whereabouts of folk music in any particular town, lets say for the sake of argument in Homestead , Florida he/she would create a New Thread, select from the menu the optional prefix Folk Venues, follow it with Florida, Homestead. So now the New Thread appears on the Forum screen as :

Folk Venues :Florida, Homestead

The first message might read

Hi I am staying in Homestead on Friday 13th on my way to Key West. Any good music venues, maybe a chance to play?

Thanks

Kevin Mcgrath

The second message might read:

Hi Kevin, why don't you look into the Main Street Cafe, on Krome Avenue. They have a really good Open Mike there every Friday at 8.00 pm, you would be more than welcome. For further details call 305-245-7575

Murray

OK, after a couple of days this message will drift off the screen but at any time in the future, anyone who is planning a joirney through Homestead simply has to enter in the Filter Box on the Front page "Folk Venues, Florida, Homestead", set the filter for three years and bingo, the info is there. If the information has changed in the meantime, then the original supplier of the information would (one would hope) update it. But in any event a contact telephone no. would have to be included.

Now, imagine this multiplied thousands of times, for every town in the US and the UK. It would take a long time for the database to grow but, hey, I got time, so do you. Eventually it would become the most comprehensive folk listing in the world. And the beauty is, it needs no work, just the good will of Mudcat members, and as we know there is plenty of that.

Maybe the idea is too simple to work, I will try and see if I can come up with something much more complicated, perhaps then it will attract more interest.

Murray