I couldn't agree with your 8:52 AM posting more, Jeri.

In addition, I tend to approach problems from a systems perspective, and this thread has been haunting me since last night. Perhaps because of the impending Holiday season, it has reminded me of a classic American TV movie: the Homecoming.   It portrays a family with fundamental differences in values and perspectives that have separated them both geographically and emotionally, threatening to disrupt their long-planned holiday together unless and until their problems are recognized and addressed.

Recognizing and addressing problems is especially difficult when they are filtered through as many backgrounds, perspectives, and communication skills as we have here on the MC.   As I was thinking about this thread last night, I had the wierdest thought: What would a Myers-Briggs profile of this "group" look like . . .?
    Which led me to wonder if a hypothetical analysis of posting patterns wouldn't reveal several broad categories of post-ers. Please note that this is not a suggestion to do so, and that there are no value judgements implied or intended in this hypothetical description of 'Categories:
    1) Those who are focused on the DT, would limit Forum discussions to a narrow definition of The Music, and have little or no patience with anything else cluttering up the site
    2) Those who make little or no use of the DT, but rely on the Forum's broad knowledge base and generous sharing on topics that have some general relationship to The Music.
    3) Those for whom the Music provides the substrate for social interaction, so the BS threads are their principal attractors, as well as the Mudchat and occasional forays into music threads that happen to catch their attention.
   
Reverting to the dysfunctional family in The Homecoming, within each of our oversimplified 'Categories there may be some members who honestly disagree on facts or values, and who address their differences with honesty and a fundamental respect for each other. But there are also members who appear to take their greatest pleasure from antagonizing the others, whether by criticism, dispute, or name-calling. It is the use to which they put what would otherwise appear to be strong communication skills that is so damaging to the family/group dynamic. Some families shun such members. Others tolerate their negativity, contributing to the weakening of the family ties. And still others, having discovered that the efforts of their individual memberss are insufficient, develop systemic strategies to address their primary problems.

It is this last approach that I would like to suggest, and please note that this is in very preliminary form, subject to technical considerations. I would suggest offering the membership an opportunity to respond to a survey thread proposing one change to the sequencing of the threads and messages they see when they log on. The underlying query that generates the lists of threads and messages would require a command for a "First Sort by Prefix," using an alpha sort of the fields in the Prefix drop-down box. In deference to the stated mission of the 'Cat, I would suggest that the end-user would see all the music threads first, and that the results of the member survey be used to determine whether those with the Tech prefix or those with the BS threads follow next. Whatever the order of the First Sort, within each of the categories the lists would be generated just as they are now, Within the Last 24/48 Hrs, or by Postings Since Last Visit, etc. So if I clicked on Messages Since My Last Visit, I would see those that had been posted to the threads with music prefixes first, followed by - e.g. - the Tech responses, followed by BS postings, in either ascending or descending order (depending upon which sort order I'd chosen. Once I became aware of the display pattern, I could focus my attention directly on my target category without having to switch filtering options.

What think y'all?   Peace!   M.   
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Joe - -
    What follows is my understanding of the technical/logical considerations. I won't mind if you think it should be deleted to shorten the message, as long as someone gives it some consideration and lets me know if my reasoning is not valid. Thanks.
    Since there would be no change in the structure of any tables, and no change to the prefixes, there would be no backwards-compatible problems, and the pattern of the threads would be self-explanatory to even a casual visitor.
    I suspect that denial of past requests to add new prefixes that I've noticed comes from the structure of the Prefix drop-down box and its relationships to the other tables. My suggestion does not affect any existing relationships or structures. It does add a query (more than one?). I think my database theory is solid, but my knowledge of web application programming is very superficial. I realize that I may not fully appreciate the programming implications of this suggestion. If this is the case, perhaps it may at least stimulate some other appropriate response.   M.

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Well, I almost missed your suggestion, mmb. Long threads tend to make me bleary-eyed. Sounds like a good idea. I'll pass it on to Jeff (Pene Azul), and we'll talk about it. Thanks.
-Joe Offer-