This issue seems to come up about every two months or so, and the prevailing opinion seems to always be one of "live and let live".

The basic summary of reasons given for not separating were stated nicely by McGrath. Thread creep is so prevalent, that any thread that starts out as "music only" tends to devolve into "BS", and vice versa.

It's also been stated on several occasions that the social side of the 'cat is what keeps (or draws) a lot of the 'catters here. Unfortunately, we've lost some very valuable contributors due to the off-music-topic posts, but we've also gained several others. It all seems to balance out. And as has also been stated, a large number of the 'catters seem to feel uncomfortable with the idea of splitting the 'Cat into "music" and "BS" boards.

In any case, feel free to do what you feel you need to do. I usually scan threads to see if they contain anything of interest to me, and it takes maybe half an hour a day to scan everything. Some people apparently read every single thread in the 'Cat, but that's not for me... and it sounds like it isn't for you either.

Either way, welcome to the 'Cat, and enjoy.

M