What Good Is Mudcat?

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: bobad
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 10:19 AM

Going after bullies is bullying????

Hmmm.......don't think so.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 09:48 AM

There are many shades of dark, Jeri. The Mamas And Papas were wrong about the darkest hour being just before dawn but the idea was good. Let's try it, enveloping ourselves in an air of positivity.

Anyway.

A few months ago, whilst ensnarled yet again in the M62 roadworks just before the M6 junction 😡😤😩💩, I spotted a red kite quartering the roadside allotments (northerners may know the spot). When I checked later it seemed that they weren't supposed to be as far north as that. Can't trust sources these days! And no baseless accusations, please, that I don't know my kites from my buzzards. We have hundreds of buzzards round here and I've even been known to talk to one!

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Jeri
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 09:32 AM

You know there are bullies, and there are those who decide it's their calling to go after bullies.

They're both bullies.
You either figure out how to carry on with what you love, or go darkside and eventually become what you hate.

In any case, we can see you.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: bobad
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 09:20 AM

it's tackling people who come here with their agenda set in stone.

Lolololololololololololololololololololololololololololol!

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 09:19 AM

Our Siamese cats do that too Dave, chattering with hardly any sound. I think blackbirds are sadly quite easy for a cat to catch (ours are too old now to catch anything)

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 09:03 AM

One of out cats tolerates all sorts of birds. The main visitors to our garden are sparrows, starlings, jackdaws, collared doves and, oddly enough, ducks but we do get a few finches, tits and things I have no idea about. However, whenever she sees blackbirds, male or female, she gets really agitated, goes quite rigid and makes odd barking or quacking noises. Think we have a racist cat on our hands?

:D tG

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 08:46 AM

I've just come indoors after sitting on the bench in our front garden. Saw a pair of red kites soaring over Gadder's Hill, and that great tit has found a mate. (The one that goes on and on and on and on saying 'teacher! teacher!') Left some food out for a rather frazzled-looking blackbird who was eyeing me hopefully for ages right at my feet.
Male pigeons annoying their mates on every rooftop. The poor ladies only want to sit quietly and look about, but they're always being pestered by their over-excited menfolk.
Time for some lunch. Husband not too well today, so made a light snack for him. I think it could be a bout of recurrent malaria, poor man.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 08:01 AM

You are a major part of the problem, Keith, despite your wringing your hands innocently in denial over many years. I'm not going to stop talking to people like you but I'm not going to respond to your rather brainless and obsessive hectoring, any more than I'm going to trade insults with the likes of Iains and Teribus. I'll still challenge you over your lack of truthfulness, which you've already resurrected in another thread this morning. That just makes honest debate impossible, but you don't seem to care. Simple as that. If I've been part of the problem, from now on I'm leaving you behind, in the hope that my "irrelevant" interventions concerning nature, cookery and general joviality, every time I see you doing your silly thing, really annoy you. And let me tell you right now that I don't see this thread as the right place to get involved in to-ing and fro-ing with you, so, go ahead, have the last word. Biggest flock of chaffinches I've seen for years in my patch this morning and we've had a couple of greenfinches too. I've been a bit worried about them for a year or two, but, hopefully, they'll make a comeback this year.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 07:22 AM

people who come here with their agenda set in stone.

Er, like you Steve?

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 06:11 AM

As long as we maintain our dignity, as long as we maintain our dignity! It isn't so much political disagreement, it's tackling people who come here with their agenda set in stone. I'm sick of it and more and more I'm just wanting to let 'em get on with it. I should have looked up "elwesii" but it was getting late and my mini iPad eyes ain't what they used to be! The best bluebell wood around here is at Brownsham, between Hartland Point and Clovelly. The walk takes you through some pretty steep woodland, some of it right on the cliff edge looking right across the sea. The woodlands have lots of primroses, campion, satin flower, sanicle, early purple orchids and ferns as well as the bluebells, not to speak of birdsong. The variety is amazing. We always go around the first few days in May and have done it as a matter of ritual for thirty years.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 05:52 AM

I think I'll invite you to join my Woof Nip Party Steve, you're very knowledgeable about wild flowers!
Maybe you were thinking of edelweiss when you mis-spelled elwesii?
We have the most gorgeous bluebell woods here in Norfolk. There's one in Stratton Strawless we always visit.

We have some wild white violets in flower in our front garden. (Viola odorata alba)

Where else on the Internet can one discuss Hot Russian Ladies and school dinners (see Spam thread) breeds of dogs, various storms and their names, and have a good old bash at some nitwit one disagrees with politically, all on one forum? Mudcat is brilliant!

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 05:25 AM

Just thought I'd mention that the moderators are far more likely to be reading this thread than the Labour Party one in which you're trolling away like there's no tomorrow, Iains. Keep digging. The rhinoceros is an affable beast who is generally peaceable, but it's best not to mess with him, I'm told.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Iains
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 05:04 AM

I seem to have a talent for penetrating that rhinoceras hide of yours Shaw. I can tell by your returning pleasantries.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 04:59 AM

Good man, Iains, the latest, most recent name-calling thread-trasher-in-chief! Ironic that an angry person can call for the prevention of "irrelevant" pleasantries whilst insisting that we stay on-topic in toxic threads!

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Iains
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 04:59 AM

GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESS STEVIE BOY AND i'LL SEND YOU SOME ROUNDUP. By the way were you Bill or Ben, I could not make up my mind?

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 04:55 AM

Akenaton's response shows that the ploy can work!

Snowdrops are now believed to be not native to the UK, Senoufou. You should have bawled at me for misspelling "elwesii," by the way! As for bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, as natives they are confined to the western edge of Europe, and the UK is their main stronghold. You don't get bluebell woods like we have here anywhere else (almost). Another native plant threatened by interbreeding is the wild daffodil, Narcissus pseudonarcissus. I know a couple of places where true wild daffodils grow round here (they're not too common), but garden daffodils gone wild are rampant in the Westcountry. They are not the same species but they freely interbreed with the natives.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Iains
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 04:43 AM

I think the trashing of a thread by deliberately introducing totally off topic items should be prevented. There is no compulsion to post on every subject. Thread drift is inevitable. But I think anyone can see there is a huge gulf between drifting a thread and deliberately sinking it.
Sabotaging is a brand new game developed by several childish posters who have the mistaken idea they rule the roost and make up the rules.
If everyone behaved the same way the fourum below the line could no longer function. It takes zero skill to introduce a new topic in a thread and it can easily be crafted to target specific people. These same people are the ones to start shouting "not fair" when they and their little ruses are mocked and ridiculed.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 03:13 AM

It was primarily your posts that were being removed and your intervention in threads that got them removed or closed, ake. If I remember rightly you are also banned from posting on a regular basis. Speaks volumes.

DtG

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: akenaton
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 03:09 AM

On the subject of "off topic", of course some threads veer off on to other matters, that is usually natural progression in discussion, but Stevie has stated repeatedly that "we", meaning him and his playmates are employing this tactic deliberately in an attempt to "piss off" other members, have threads closed or cause people they do not "like" to leave the forum permanently.

This would seem to be a gross contravention of forum rules regarding moderation, but Stevieboy has latched on to the idea that this section is no longer being moderated, so the children are taking full advantage.
This is a difficult situation to rectify, as we don't want to go back to the wholesale removal of posts or complete threads without explanation.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 03:07 AM

I must try to learn more about wild flowers and botany in general. Good to see that the de-nastify thread movement is gaining momentum and, getting back to topic, one of the good things about Mudcat is its adaptability :-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 02:48 AM

In fact, I'm going to form a new political party, the WFNP , Wild Flower Nationalist Party, (otherwise known as Woof Nip)

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 02:44 AM

Galanthus nivalis is the only acceptable snowdrop for me. Native to UK and delicate in form. That bloody old elwesii thing is coarse and far too big. I don't like the Hyacinthoidus hispanica either. Same thing, too big and blowsy, and it's invading our woodlands at the expense of our native Hyacinthoides non-scripta. It even has the cheek to hybridise with our bluebells, and their offspring have no scent!

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Mar 17 - 12:04 AM

"What good are songs? If you have to ask, you should stick to Snapchat or xhamster."

hey... folks can multi task..
it's easy enough to 'appreciate' xhamster whilst listening to good songs and singing along... 😜


..same as back in the pre internet age when all one had was magazines furtively purchased in plain brown paper bags....
..and you sang out loud so family thought you were practising songs behind closed doors in the garage, bathroom, or bedroom...

.. errrrrrm.. so I've been told...

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Amos
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 11:36 PM

Mudcat brings joy. What good is joy? It brings new depth and fire to life. What good is life? Without it there would be no song. What good are songs? If you have to ask, you should stick to Snapchat or xhamster.

Let us have joy, and let us enjoy the fact that thanks to Spiegel and his many supporters, we have added to the sum total of song in the world.

Blessing on Max and on Dick and on singers of good songs everywhere.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 08:55 PM

Anyone prattling on about moderation on a forum needs to be told to shrug their shoulders and accept that it's not their gig. If I ever catch myself prattling on about it I nearly always end up by saying that. You can always start your own bloody forum and employ your own bloody rules!

In the gardens I visited today there were huge clumps of Summer Snowflakes, Leucojum aestivum, looking for all the world like overgrown snowdrops. But my favourite sight of the day was an enormous Magnolia campbellii, about sixty feet tall with masses of the most ridiculously beautiful, over-the-top pink flowers and great big furry buds that you just had to stroke. On the grassy areas underneath were great drifts of hoop-petticoat narcissi, Narcissus bulbocodium. Life-affirming!

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 08:47 PM

"It's a bit of a jungle."
Bit of an oversimplification I'm afraid Joe.
People get angry - even passionate over things they care about - whatever they are.
I suggest you go count the number of "what is folk-song" threads where things have become heated even to the point of having threads closed down.
I am #fully aware that we sometimes over-step the mark, but that's the way things go sometimes
I've always considered your postings reasonable and balances, but I have so say, I still sting when I recall a name you called me which I would never dream of using about anybody - on religion, of all things
We all have our varying boiling points and most of us take as good as we get without complaining - (with a few exceptions).
One possible way of avoiding such hat is to adopt a practice I have seen regularly in pubs in England, and put up a notice "no politics and no religion" but where would be the fun in that?
I have a feeling that this year is going to herald in a great deal of nastiness, which will accentuate some of the behaviour we see here
Better start work on the fallout shelter in the garden tomorrow - it's going to be a long four years!!
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 08:18 PM

Only Glanthus nivalus. Usually, I find them after they've been in bloom for a while.
On moderation, people talk about what they want to, and if it's crap, I guess that's what they want. People who don't like it often can't not engage, and it just gets worse when they do, but they have to figure that out for themselves (if they can). If it's just them fighting with a club of 4 or 5 regular crap-lovers, they might notice and shut up. I doubt they're capable of absorbing that clue, but anything's possible.

Got Siberian Squill, too. Little blue blossoms.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 07:22 PM

Well don't give up. A handful of us are mischievously trying to derail foul threads. You guys could close 'em, and you may not think that that's right, and you could be right. A scintilla of support would be good. Your mention of your snowdrops gives me ever such a slight hope that you may have noticed. More snowdrops, daffodils, walks in the park and the odd recipe do seem to get the negativos really cross, which could be good. A couple of months of steam coming from the ears of the naysayers could fix everything. What variety of snowdrops do you have? Saw a gorgeous clump of Galanthus elweisii this afternoon, but I still prefer the humble ordinary snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 06:06 PM

Despite what seemed like major problems back then, it was still possible to have a BS discussion that was mostly fun and respectful. Not these days. I've read Jim Carroll call this a "debate forum" twice. Well no, it's not, but when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

The fundamental problem I have is that people don't seem to care about Mudcat or the people here enough to modify their behavior. Never NOT say something if you can. I can't do anything about it, though. Just post when I'm inspired and piss off when the oblivious, egomaniacal flamers start humping the thread to death.

Or maybe that's being vituperative. I hope my snowdrops will be warm beneath the major poop-load of snow we're gonna get tomorrow. Snowdrops = hope.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 05:42 PM

To Stu and other lamenters for a lost golden age. With apologies to Max.

Dear GUESTS,

The Mudcat is a place that like minded people communicate and share their knowledge and their lives. We come from different backgrounds, different countries, different ideals, different religions, morals and lifestyles. With these differences, it amazes me that we have so much in common. The format, technology and philosophy of the Mudcat design have been carefully crafted for almost 6 years to facilitate this very diverse community. I have steadfastly or stubbornly held to an ideal of openness since our beginning because I thought that was what was necessary to mimic the real world and to make it easy and comfortable for new folks to discover and learn about our community and ease their way into it.

For the first time since I started this whole thing, I am very thoughtfully considering an alternative.   With GUESTS posting as they are today, I have no interest in continuing as I have. You are hurting me. Not just my feelings or my pride in what we have accomplished here, but also in a real concrete way. As many of you know, the economy is in the tank, and Onstage can no longer finance the Mudcat. The members have contributed a great deal of money, in January specifically, that will keep us running for at least 6 months to come. We are up for 2 grants from Folk Song Societies come March and April. All of our sources of financing are highly deterred by the behavior and ability of GUESTS. Probably about ¾ or our income comes from people and organizations that care about us because we are a Music Resource with no equal. The other ¼ is because of the community. Zero is from GUESTS. So, in these times of necessity, I need to prioritize in gratitude for those who care about the Mudcat in real ways. Real ways are the contributions of money and the contributions of knowledge. Neither comes from GUESTS.

Please stop this behavior, I ask nicely, nay, I beg of you. There is no point to this. This forum is not just words on a page; these are people behind these posts. People who are here to share themselves, their knowledge, their time and even their homes. What you are doing is littering in the park. A free place we can all come to and do our thing, whether we want to meet people and discuss our interests or just sit on the benches and read. You are also personally attacking me. This is my creation, and you are ruining it. You are jeopardizing the only financing we have. If you do not hear my plea, and find some human compassion and stop this now, I will have no choice but to put a fence around my park to keep you out.   

Flamers and Trolls of the past always seemed to want something. They would flame BS, Prayer, Healing, etc. threads in protest that this should be a Music-Only Web site. Or they would pick on specific people they did not like. I cannot figure out what you GUESTS want or why you do this other than some egocentric joy from destruction. If I knew what you wanted I could deal with this issue in a surgical fashion and address only those issues without changing one of our core philosophies. But, I do not expect that you want anything. Nor do I suspect you will grant me my plea to please stop this. If that is the case, I have no choice but to implement measures to deal with you. That is, no anonymous postings. At a minimum, you will have to be a member, you will receive your password via a valid email address and your IP address will be recorded. Any behavior that I don't like (no jury, no trial) and your cut off. A technological challenge that I am looking forward to.

MEMBERS: We are discussing our options and our technology now, and will post an Open Letter to Members in a week or two to explain what we have decided. There will be no debate, I've heard all there is to hear about this issue. I will do as I see fit.

Sincerely,

Max D. Spiegel
Publisher

[Posted on 10 Feb. 2002]

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 05:03 PM

I still need my Mudcat on a regular basis, be Mudcat right or wrong.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Senoufou
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 07:01 AM

Now Steve, there's nothing wrong with wild flowers, good food, scenery and what we did on our holidays. We can always get vituperative about those if we really try however. :)

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Stu
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 06:50 AM

It's real drag below the line these days. Same old people in the same old slanging matches. It's ever been thus to a degree (I'm sure www can all remember the worst offenders of the early 2000's) but has definitely got worse in recent years and is it now pretty much impossible to continue a civilised discussion before the regulars trash it. I'm all for the rough and tumble of vicious debate, but that's not what is happening now.

In my early years on this forum I learnt a lot from people I never would have communicated with in real life as our paths would never have crossed. These discussions had profound effect on me and challenged some of my fundamental assumptions on a number of subjects. It was often uncomfortable to be challenged in such a way but there was a more tolerant atmosphere around the discussions, less of a tendency for folk to think they knew it all and have seen it all.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 06:18 AM

We could always divert nasty discussions towards wild flowers, good food, scenery, what we did on our holidays, etc. I wonder whether it's been tried...

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 05:28 AM

101 damnations... 😜


not saying mudcat should be disneyland or my little pony fluffy candy floss world...


but....

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Senoufou
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 05:25 AM

There are some vituperative people who get very heated in BS, but one can simply avoid those threads and look at the others. After all, they're not having these arguments in one's sitting room are they?

Also, I've noticed that there's a slightly different 'discussion' (I use the term loosely!) style among the Brits as compared to those from other parts (eg USA) The UK style can get very savage, with insults flying and goading remarks being directed at each other. This sometimes occurs in British pubs, and an onlooker from abroad might be forgiven for thinking murder is about to be committed. It isn't pretty, but it's a sort of tradition, though perhaps regrettable. Like the landlord in the Dog and Duck, the Moderators are wise to let the argument run its course, intervening only when chairs start being hurled across the pub!

(to Mrrzy) My husband speaks Bambara/Malinke, and while Toubab is the singular and Toubabou the plural, his lot don't distinguish. It's Toubabou for every situation. However, in Senegal (Casamance for example) the Wolof speakers used Toubab for myself, and Toubabou for all whiteys in general!

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 05:24 AM

Damn you and your 100 stealing ways PFR...

:D tG

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 05:23 AM

100!

So, Donuel, did you expect the thread to go on for so long or for it to get pushed so far off the rails?

DtG

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 05:22 AM

100.... time to let some light and fresh air back in here

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 05:21 AM

mudcat seriously needs a separate obits section...

[even if it pushes BS further down the page...]

Above the line is increasingly too depressing for new younger visitors...

This place has become overwhelmingly sad and funereal....
and can only get grimmer over the next few years..

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: akenaton
Date: 13 Mar 17 - 04:14 AM

Well Joe, this could be a beacon among discussion forums, as there are a large number of very intelligent people posting here.....BUT there are quite a few things which need fixing(I know it's not easy).
Personal abuse should be discouraged, for example personal charges of racism fascism etc......they prove nothing and often provoke angry responses.   Thread wreckers who go deliberately off topic in an attempt to interrupt the flow of discussion should be warned then banned for a day if they refuse to comply.

Moderation should not be conducted on political grounds!

We are all adults here and should be able to conduct ourselves properly, discuss any controversial subject without being subjected to all the childishness we see at present.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Mar 17 - 10:17 PM

A person who prefers to remain a Guest emailed this to me and asked me to consider posting it. I was reluctant, but then decided to post it.

Hi Joe,
I had thought of posting the item below in the above thread, but I thought as I am only a guest I have no business trying to suggest any changes to mudcat below the line, especially as I may be considered one of the offenders by some. So I felt it best for you to preview it first and to do with it whatever you wish-print it, act on it, bin it- it is entirely a matter for you:-

"Above the line is a wonderful resource for information on folk music, with responses to questions almost instantaneous, and from all over the world.
Below the line is a very different world of un-policed anarchy, where reasonable standards of behaviour can be sadly lacking. It is a place where the nastier side of humanity can sometimes be displayed. and threads can degenerate into slanging matches.
For some the partial excuse can be offered that they have passionate feelings on a subject, for others the non excuse is that it offers a vehicle to display their supposed superiority and erudition and most notably their intolerance.

I would like to see sanctions imposed on continuous offenders and I am sure the moderators know who the guilty parties are. Perhaps banning from posting for a period of weeks/months would clean up the forum and in tandem a public name and shame of those thought to be trolling.. Perhaps then the content would concentrate on the merits of the argument and counter argument and not the individual"

Regards ----.

As some of you know very well, we do impose sanctions on "contentious offenders," but we also try our best to promote free discussion. It's a difficult balance to maintain.

I thought you all ought to know why some people stay away from the non-music forum. It's a bit of a jungle.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: mayomick
Date: 11 Mar 17 - 09:57 AM

I wish other sites had above and below line threads.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Mar 17 - 12:36 PM

C'est pas tout le monde qui connait la difference entre Toubab et Toubabou!

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Mar 17 - 11:45 AM

I came to Mudcat, I must allow, for the songs in general, and for artists like the Weavers in particular.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Mar 17 - 06:41 PM

To Severn. Was there really a golden age, though? I seem to remember a recent discussion which mentioned an appeal on this forum by Max to cut out the trolling and keep things civil - from a decade and a half ago! If you press me I'll dig it out. As for the rest of your post, I heartily agree with your sentiments.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Greg F.
Date: 09 Mar 17 - 06:23 PM

Aye - I understand that Greg, but would what I describe not be a fairer system?

Absolutely. But it would take an Ammendment to the Consitution; while not impossible, a very dificult process.

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Severn
Date: 09 Mar 17 - 06:03 PM

The good of Mudcat is that I am much better off for either knowing or knowing OF a great many of you and having developed many lasting friendships. I have entertained some of you in my house and have been entertained by some of you in your own domiciles. I have joined my voice in harmony and conversation with some of you. Some of you reached out and gave help and support through a few medical crises. I stay away from politics in here, and so have been able to keep my friends I have made.

I miss the Chat room atmosphere of years ago before it became cancerous and had to be discontinued and made more of my early friendships from there more than from the actual threads.

I have found the lyrics to many of the songs I sing from Mudcat or from individual Mudcatters.

So politics and philosophy be damned, I'm just better off for having had access to this place and songs, jokes, friendships and information that I've shared. That's all there is or needs to be for there to be good from this place. So thanks to most of you all for existing.....

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Mar 17 - 08:50 AM

Not according to the link pasted by your first mate ake, Teribus.

Given the importance of Iowa in the nomination process, every candidate makes promises about ethanol subsidies important to the farmers in that State but not to the rest of the population. The other 40 states get little attention or promises. If the election was based only on popular vote, then the candidates would go where the votes are, California, New York, Texas and Illinois and the swing states would have less importance But there are 29 states with less than ten electoral votes whose influence in a presidential election would be greatly diminished.

I am interested in what people would think is a better system so your input would be appreciated. Why would one voting population in one country voting for one president not work and why does it have to be split into states? Not that it matters here (both UK and Mudcat) really.

DtG

DtG

Subject: RE: What Good Is Mudcat?
From: Teribus
Date: 09 Mar 17 - 08:37 AM

Ehmmm Gnome - potential presidential candidates always make promises to all of the population every time there is a presidential election.

Now what was it that you were recommending?