I have seen some marvellous threads this past year in Mudcat; some were even in the BS section (the discussion on icons for example). The gems-to-crap ratio might be 1/30 now, where it was 1/10 a year ago, but I still find the forum very valuable.

I am put off slightly by the increase in crap-shite threads, but that's just personal taste. It actually helps to see it in the title, because I can then avoid such threads - which is how I make it through a Mudcat read without getting annoyed. But...

The comparison to lager louts and what is happening in European cities is incorrect, in my opinion. This is a forum where people choose to visit, they don't have to inhabit it. Furthermore, it is a forum of folkies, traditionally a diverse, sometimes unruly or politically incorrect, tolerant yet kicking-at-the-tyres-of-convention kind of people - and that's partly its inherent value. To try to shoehorn that into a prissy well-behaved discussion group would be moderating the essence out of it.

It may die, as people vote with their feet. Or perhaps it will not. But it is precious as it is. I give you two much better examples:

a) The best flowers need shit to grow

b) I'd rather spend the last day in the life of an animal that's about to become extinct watching it, recording it, understanding it, enjoying it in its freedom, than cage it forever in order to "protect" it or "preserve" it.