Sometimes, I get angry messages, asking why Mudcat "allows" so-and-so to be so insulting, and demanding that the perpetrator be "banned" from Mudcat. Well, we don't "allow" personal attacks and racism - but because we do not have a universal pre-posting censorship policy, some nasty posts get posted. If they're likely to cause damage, we delete them - but we acknowledge no obligation to delete anything. We do our best to operate by common sense, not by rules, so don't expect to get a lot of sympathy if you complain that we "don't enforce the rules" equitably by deleting so-and-so's post. There are no rules that require us to delete anything. We delete for one reason - to keep the peace. We are a folk music forum, not a police agency or moral arbiter.

We ask people not to respond to troublesome posts. If you DO respond, don't be surprised if you are treated just as severely as the Evil Posters are. If Mudcatters could simply ignore the problem posters, we'd have a lot fewer problems here.

Also - please be aware that we don't ordinarily "ban" people here, despite what the BBC and other forums do. If you are upset by what somebody posts, don't respond.

-Joe Offer-