There's a bunch of get-togethers for folky friends here in various places on the East Coast, and there's always a bit of tension over how much socializing is done vs. how much actual singing. If we're in a place where there are several rooms, the house "rules" are usually to try to go have conversations in one room, and sing in another. This sort of works, but is socially awkward to try to rigidly maintain, especially when greeting newcomers, or wanting to exchange news with out-of-town friends. When there AREN'T separate rooms, it becomes a BIG problem - the folks who want the occasion to be a "Singing Party" get bent out of shape at friends who want to gossip, and the socializers feel straight-jacketed by the people who keep saying "Shut up and SING!"

The Mudcat Forum is sortof like a one-room get together, with the same problems of dividing time between music and socializing. It's not a closed party, however - the Mudcat Home Page bills the Forum as a place to have musical questions answered. When people's questions about music get bumped off the thread list by new threads about "What Time is it Where You Are?" (to give one particularly dumb and pointless example), I think we're straying a bit too far from the advertised and clearly stated purpose of the Forum.

I enjoy conversing with all the wonderful friends I've made here, and am guilty myself of contributing to discussions of What I Want to Be When I Grow Up and the like, but I would like to ask that we ALL try to be a bit more self-aware about how "loud" our casual conversations might be getting in this one-room Cafe', and whether or not they're interrupting the music...

Resist the temptation to start a new thread on "The Weird Dream I Had Last Night" or "My Trip to the Dentist", especially if there are more musically-related requests and discussions going on, or, worse yet, going unanswered. If we all look at this as a large party with multiple conversations going on at once, and try not to interrupt too often or too loudly with new, off-topic subjects, I think some of the griping will subside!