Jon

Max has shown that he can make his feelings very clear - as he has of you. If Max were to be stating the things that Joe has stated here publicly - I would be able to publicly ask the same questions of Max. Max has not- so we are left to discuss them with with Joe.

Joe

Well, I have to say that there is value in Shambles/Roger's perspective. Most of the rest of us don't share that perspective, so it is difficult for us to understand his priorities. Shambles sees Mudcat primarily as a vehicle for self-expression, as a place for people to express their creativity and ideas and lyrics and whatnot. As such, he believes Mudcat should orient itself toward the priorities of the people who post messages. And it is true that Mudcat has been that, and has served many people very well as a means of self-expression.

Why do I get the idea from this that we are being served with the notice from Joe – that the Mudcat serving many people well as a means of self-expression is about to come to an end? *Smiles*

'Most of us'- - I suspect don't share anyone's elses's perspective for has it not been made very clear that posters to the Mudcat Discussion Forum are individuals with many different perspectives? Enabling all of this to be pooled equally– has been the Mudcat's strength. My priority (if I indeed have one) is only that this can continue to be the case.

Let us be clear. Joe are you informing us that your wish to 'index' the contributions of others – should now take priority over what is freely contributed by them?
And to the extent that you will now change the titles that the originators have given and combine many threads together under a title of your choosing – as a matter of routine and without the originator's knowledge or consent?

That is what it looks like from the following.

I think the majority of us see Mudcat as primarily a place that is oriented toward the reader, rather than toward the person who furnishes information.

You may think that – but how do you know if this is true? And if it were true – should not your role only be to facilitate for ALL contributors – and not just for who you see as MOST of them?

As such, Mudcat should make the priorities of the readers its primary consideration. It is wonderful that so many people have furnished all this information and creativity, but the reader needs help in finding his way around this maze. That's why we index and title and organize and remove duplicates. We don't do it to offend the originator, and we have no reason to offend the originator. It's not a matter of "personal taste" - it's simply a matter of doing the best we can to help people find their way around, building a roadmap or a highway system so that people can find their way around the 1.47 million messages that have been posted here.

Are the fine search facilities not sufficient for finding our way around the 'maze'?

My concern is less over these proposed changes – which may well prove useful – but the fact that these changes MUST be imposed. Even if this 'indexing' is considered to be so important – is it really so very important that any changes like these MUST now be imposed by you – without the originator's knowledge or consent as a matter of routine?

Would it not be more in the spirit of The Mudcat to always ask the originator's permission first and if this is not possible – to leave their contribution as posted? I am quite sure that if the change was thought important enough – that consent would be as freely given as the original contribution was – but I feel that it would be showing the correct respect – to always ask first. What would be the problem with this approach?

Other than the fact that you personally don't want to adopt it?

The point you appear to miss – is that on our forum the readers ARE the writers. The same people are entitled to the same respect – whether they are writing to or reading from our forum.