Maybe it is both the heat and me, but it seems that the recent Mudcat fundraising drives have had an inordinate amount of negativity, especially coming from Max.

I don't know or understand the situation with Mudcat or with Max on a personal level. But I've been watching the downhill slide here in terms of reliability and functionality of the site, and now Max has confirmed (in the Matilda is dead thread) his heart just isn't in it like it used to be. Is that why he seems so bitter and antagonistic towards the forum?

I don't know the answer to that question, but it is as plain as the faces on Rushmore that the time may well be nearing for Mudcat to go the way of many other once noble folk endeavors--out of business. So Max, here is one Catter who is willing to stand up and say the unthinkable for most people here: maybe it is time you bowed out. It is clear the way the forum is being used has gotten to you. Maybe the time has come to let it go, so you can get your head back to a more positive place.

When people have as badly skewed a view of their place within the larger folk community (hence my thread name)that they relish the opportunity to vent like Max did the other day to the forum of folk music site users here (yeah, I know, the monolithic Anonymous Guest ALWAYS is deserving of such virulence), maybe it is time to close down the saloon, and head on out onto the hot and dusty cybertrail in search of greener pastures. That sort of ill will just isn't what folk music is about to me.

Sure, Mudcat has been a part of my overall folk life over the years, and the DT is a great resource. But this particular folk community, for most of us who use the place but never get to a Mudcat gathering, it sure doesn't reflect the real time folk communities I've been a part of all my life.

(still) Yours (but increasingly regretfully),

Another Disappointed Catter