I haven't read most of this post but....
Well this is a chesnut that's been knocking about the 'cat a few times under different guises. I was delightfully suprised when I took one of my abscences from the Mudcat and came back to discover the use of BS etc. to indicate the kind of thread that was being used. I felt that this would satisfy everybody here and be able to make a dash to what looks interesting.
moving on to Art's observations, I would agree with him to a certain extent. I often don't post to music threads or lyrics threads, though I have done occasionly over the years, because I may sing 'em but I don't really have much knowledge about the somgs I sing. I read the threads if it is a song that I sing or know or plan to sing because this is something that interests me. I tend more to contrbute to the BS threads because; 1 - They amuse me, or move me, or any number of reasons, and 2 - see explanation above. If it weren't for the BS threads, many people wouldn't have shared many wonderful things ( a recent thread springs immediately to mind with Mark Cohen's thread about his lost love, and that would be sad. I am in the 'Cat because it is a forum of people that have similar tastes to mine, they're not all the same, but then it would be a boring world if they were. And I find that this is the function of this forum, I think I've had my say now.