I don't know Max or Joe, so I don't have a clue as to to the real reasons behind their policies. But posting on almost every web or email forum I've ever been to requires a membership or subscription that requires some sort of real or fictional identity. Mudcat is a rare exception.

Hardly a day goes by at Mudcat without an active thread or two complaining about the guest situation. It almost seems like the arguments over guests' status actually outweigh the number of actual postings by guests on other threads. In the time that I've been reading Mudcat, the arguments have remained the same. McGrath of Harlow, for example, has repeated his ad nauseum.

Changing Mudcat posting to members-only would be a pretty simple thing. It would increase membership and it would eliminate the constantcy of these griping-about-guests threads. I'm probably wrong, but it has occured to me, that by sticking with the status quo, Max and Joe may actually be getting some sort of kick out these threads.