Pete, I don't doubt that many of us change over our time here and I'm pretty sure our own frustrastions become part of the being "haggard".

I have my own likes and dislikes with threads, probably in the same way as most people do. In my case, I loath many of the jokey type and silly threads which quite frankly I find inane. I particularly dislike silly threads that spawn additonal silly threads and the fact that things like "farting threads" seem guaranteed to make the 100+ posts. But that is just me - these threads are obviously enjoyable to some here...

What gets me down more is that I see the repeated pattern here: The ammount of BS rises or there is a particular outbreak of silly threads or a number of BS threads of one type, then there is the protest, the row, things cool down, the BS causing the annoyance drops a little, we get the build up...

I know some will argue that people should just carry on and ignore the chatter but the fact that it does trouble some people does concern me - particularly as it does have a cost in terms of musical contributers. Also I believe that if it weren't for the occasional arguments on this, the BS would just continue to rise.

As I said earlier, I believe the solution is to split the forum to make it easier for those who prefer the music only to cope, as well as make it easier for some of the music threads to remain visible without getting swamped by and pushed down the list by BS threads.

The other way is for people to try and be a little more restrained about posting and perhaps consider other options. I have for example seen threads which seem to contain a small handfull of people exchanging jokes, witicisms, etc amongst themselves. One could try asking is it really of intersest to others or are we using this place as our own private chat room? If it is the latter, why not use ICQ or Paltalk, etc. instead?... There are plenty of options avialible...

Finally for those who say it's like a pub, the session in the pub is a good analogy. Ideally, those that want a bit of a chat move away, perhaps to another bar or an area of the room far enough away from the musicians so that they can talk freely rather than interfere with the musicians. Failing that when there isn't that much space to move, well mannered people tend to limit there conversaion more and talk very quietly.

Jon