Yeah, sure, Charlotte, every big shot was an unknown once upon a time. But it's every bit as much a trusim to observe that not every ambitious nobody ever attains success. Some of those who never make it may indeed have excellent qualities and be worth a listen, of course, but many more are not.

My point was that anybody and everybody can promote themselves with a homemade website and a MySpace page ~ the modern-day equivalent of "vanity publishing" ~ and it's helpful to have another source where a bit of outside influence is available to keep a lid on the massive number of self-promos.

Why else would you think Wiki has recently become a more trusted source of info than MySpace, etc.?

By the way ~ are you ever going to sing up and "officially" join Mudcat? You're certainly more than active enough, on a daily if not hourly basis, and your contributions are almost always interesting and very much to the point. We all know your first name as well as your preferred nickname; why are you holding out? Aren't you getting tired of typing out "the Mole Catcher's . . . Apprentice" every time you post even the shortest message? Join up, and your Mudcat name wil be inserted automatically. Plus which, folks will be able to send you personal messages, and you can respond if and and when you like, and even initiate your own PMs if it suits your fancy.