Best:

The 2 gatherings, Llanstock and Yorkshire, superbly managed by Llanfair and "The Ducks" respectively were excellent but I'd say the best for me was getting Hearme (later moved to Paltalk) set up and having people in different parts of the world give songs or tunes together. One song could be from say Jacko in NZ, the next from say Dave TAM in Canada, then say me in UK, etc. and it felt quite "groundbreaking" back in the day.

Worst:

While I've had quite a few of my own "moments", I'll not try to put this down to an event but instead suggest a loss of nativity/innocence. In the early days, it felt like we were "pioneers" in a world somehow detached from the real one but for me at any rate, the point was reached that not only still in the real world in many way, I was finding myself in (some, at best, not helped by myself...) new rows; and I'd add a later realisation that some things such as long "what is folk" (or related) do not reflect the folk world I try to particpate in which is more about accepting what the event is and getting on with making music...

Of course that's personal but I don't think the early "pioneering spirit" can exist for anyone now?

Ake:
Got to disagree with you. I've never met Joe, nor communicated with him in a while, nor ever discussed any "moderation" (things were slightly different back when I was a "mod" (or JoeClone as we were known as in the day) and closing threads was a later option) outside the period when I was "involved" but I think I've some idea as to his outlook. I'd know less or nothing about others but I'd think one principle (possibly even started by Max) remains openness in discussion. I guess there may be inconsistencies but I don't view what I perceive as an increasingly angry (just in certain areas) forum and trying to balance "fairness" with "nastiness" as being an envious task and, of course, peoples' views on what constitutes either of these criteria does vary. Anyway, enough of that in this thread...