Well, I've just spent about an hour browsing through rec.music.folk and I don't think it is noticeably more academic than Mudcat - nor a great deal less either. There are popular threads on things like "who is your favourite artist" ... all in all, very like Mudcat I would say, with a different interface. There does seem to be less looking for lyrics and a lot more information about where various people are performing.

While we comparing Mudcat with other groups, don't forget we were advised recently to "spend a month reading uk.music.folk" if we wanted to find out what 'insular' meant.

Is it just possible each forum has its own strengths and weaknesses and that the people who take part make it into what it is? *G*

Could Mudcat be better? Of course. Are other sites better? For some things yes, for others no. The wise researcher looks at several sources (and always did) ...