Face it, Carol: the vast majority of people here are unable to carry on an intelligent discussion of accordion music. I do think it's unfair when people start a serious thread about an instrument, and others waylay the discussion with jokes - I'll try to keep an eye on that and see what we can do to prevent that.

There are issues on all sides. Those of us who sing, can often find it difficult to sing with those instrumentalists who don't respect our concerns - like those who overpower our singing or try to lead us where we don't want to go, or who want to cut the song short before the story we're singing is over. And there are some instruments that singers just can't sing with very well - accordions and trumpets often fall into that category. We singers who don't play instruments can feel lost in a session where every song is an instrumental song, or where singing is only allowed as a necessary nuisance.

Instrumentalists can find themselves in the background in singers' discussions because the singers just don't relate to intruments they don't play.

So, there are issues, and there is a need for balance in discussions and sessions where all are included; and also there is a need for a variety of sessions and discussions where some are NOT included, and that should be OK.

I suppose our recent experience with Maritn Gibson has chased away some people. I don't think it was all Martin's doing, however. I think that a "battlefield mentality" has developed here at Mudcat, where angry people come here to fight and to provoke fights. It doesn't make it very pleasant for those us who'd like a more peaceful atmosphere.

We try to use the consensus of Mudcatters as a guide for our editorial policy, realizing that we can't satisfy everybody. The consensus seems to be that we need to have stricter controls on combative conduct. You can expect us to follow through on that. We won't try to decide who's right and who's wrong - if you do battle at Mudcat, you can expect that some of your messages will be deleted. If that doesn't stop you, you can expect to be at least temporarily blocked, with your membership suspended.


-Joe Offer-