We learned something on the mudcat -- almost from its beginning. It is really easy to "make a splash" here. All you have to do is be a VERY obnoxious troll and the whole mudcat is your oyster. Sure, it's negative attention -- but for some reason that few seem to understand, that doesn't matter.

And so we have our Martin Gibsons and our (who's the guy who kept complaining about Joe Offer's censorship of his posts? -- he had hundreds of complaint threads but his name escapes me right now). We can't even BEG regulars to not respond. Finally, when self-restraint didn't work, much against the principles of many here, the move was made to actually cut these people's posting rights off. We even modified the guest posting policy.

Like it or not, attention is attention, and there are MANY in this overcrowded world -- people with folks living lives so devoid of meaning, so devoid of value, that they WILL resort to anything that gives them a hope that their existence matters.

And the national media has PROVEN to them that this is one way to matter in the world.

On the mudcat it is also possible to "make a splash" with excellence -- helpful lyric/chord posting, creative and entertaining stories, friendly banter. But that's the hard way and not nearly as sure-fire. In fact, you can do all that (good stuff) and yet, if you have a political point of view contrary to the majority, you are still more likely to have even your good stuff ignored (though somehow, ironically, the collective cannot bring itself to ignore a troll).

The world is just like that. There are many famous who have become that way by virtue of their brilliant, helpful offerings. But it's harder. And the odds are not in favor of even striving for excellence bringing one the positive attention they crave.

The need for attention is the problem. The media has proven to the sick that it doesn't matter if you do good (hard to accomplish) or bad (easy to accomplish) -- it will elevate you above the anonymous.

And, yes, those shooters who have survived these shootings HAVE been very aware of their heroes who have gone before them. We don't have to guess. We know this from interviews with them.