If you are at Mudcat every day, you MIGHT know which thread is the original and which are the copycats. You MIGHT be able to save yourself some time, and choose not to open the copycats.
If you enjoy starting copycat threads, you MIGHT be on the right wavelength to have some idea what the humor of the copycat threads is intended to be. You MIGHT be able to save yourself some time, and choose not to open the copycats.
If you enjoy rhyming slang, or otherwise share the culture of the person who started a copycat thread, you MIGHT have some idea what the humor of the copycat threads is intended to be. You MIGHT be able to save yourself some time, and choose not to open the copycats.
If you don't fit any of the descriptions above, chances are you will open the copycat threads to see what they are about.
Now, if you're on a cable modem, or if you're on dialup and Mudcat's having a fastloading day, or if you have perfect recall on what every thread you have already opened is all about-- despite the plethora of similar titles-- opening the copycats YOU DON'T KNOW ARE COPYCATS is a minor incovenience.
But--- if you are NOT at Mudcat every day, and/or if you DON'T enjoy starting copycat threads, and/or if you DON'T enjoy rhyming slang, or otherwise share the culture of the person who started a copycat thread, and/or if you you're NOT on a cable modem, and/or if you're on dialup and Mudcat's NOT having a fastloading day, and/or if you DON'T have perfect recall on what every thread you have already opened is all about-- despite the plethora of similar titles-- then for you, opening the copycats YOU DON'T KNOW ARE COPYCATS is a MAJOR PAIN IN THE ASS, purely on practical terms.
What the objectors are saying is that when people insist on doing this, and a bunch of other people insist on copying THAT and doing it TOO-- you are making Mudcat something a lot of us can't use, don't want to use, and that an increasing number of veteran members are giving up using.
It's not so much that we are judging your right to free speech-- it's that you are doing something that causes others actual problems.