I love Mudcat the way it is now, even when people occasionally act like jerks. One of the people I work with in 3-D life acted like a jerk for a whole week, but then she got over it and we're friends again. That's what happens.

As for old-timers vanishing, people's lives change, and sometimes they no longer spend hours on line, or they develop interests in different sites, or whatever.It doesn't always mean they got disgusted and left.

I first posted here as a guest, and then got sucked in by the discussions and responses. If an anonymous guest posts something offensive, I don't have to read it. There's plenty of music-related and other stuff to keep me busy here. I like the fact that anybody can post easily, whether registered or not; my daughter just asked me to read an article on a forum she frequents, and when I hit the button for "comment on this article" I couldn't figure out how to make a comment. The ease of discourse here is what keeps the new blood coming in, and that's what makes evolution happen.