Hi, iggy: Being a new-timer, I can't give the perspective that you're looking for. But, just being on a year, I've lived through the Flame Wars, and now the boring What Has Your Mother-in-Law Done For You (don't start it, please!)threads and the threads with 9 in them. I notice that they proliferate, while some music threads just roll off the table, unnoticed. As an example, nutty posted the words to a wonderful song, at my request. It was so far down the list, lost in the What Has... threads, that I didn't even see it until it was brought to my attention, and I had to pull it up from the 3 day setting. The last I saw it, it had a grand total of 2 responses. Counting mine.

I suspect that there's a natural cycle that most people go through here on Mudcat. The initial excitement (which must have been far higher when Mudcat first started) simmers down to a mild addiction.
Mudchat has kicked everything into high gear for me again, and I am having a great time getting to know people who have just been a paragraph on an occasional thread.

I think that it's natural that the lyric requests would taper off, as more and more of them have been answered. I've also noticed rather grumpy comments from the old-timers when someone starts a thread, not realizing that the topic has already been discussed. There are times when I hear "We've alreaddddyyyyy discussed that..." Well, excuuuuuuuuuuse me. I think the posting of related, earlier threads is a great addition to Mudcat (thank you, Max and company.) It offers the chance to go back to previous discussions for those who are interested. I rarely am, in honesty... If I was here to read old discussions, Max could just publish transcripts and I could read them in my recliner.

Mudcat is a living, changing organism. It's not going to be what it was, and God knows (I think) where it's going. At times it will be irritating as Hell, and at times it will be exciting. I'm just thankful to Max that I can come along for the ride.

I don't consider this a "flame," at all.

Jerry