Both Rob's and Tom F's excellent posts have given me a lot of food for thought. How much of our status-quo-ism could simply be hidden technophobia, or rather, techno-reluctance? It takes time to learn new stuff, and who has that to spare? My own computer skills are adequate for what I do, but they're basic. I don't push the boundaries of user-dom so probably don't know what I'm missing regarding the "richer tool set" that is second nature to the kids. (I'm a Baby-Boomer, like so many of us here.) It's a point to ponder.

Rob, when your daughter went "bleahhh" and said she wasn't coming back again, was it because of the website architecture itself, or something in the threads that she didn't like? Some of the "bully pulpit" ones (nice phrase, Spaw) would definitely put off newbies of any age. Also (if you don't mind telling us) how old is your daughter? Not trying to grill you, just curious. The age-gap is certainly a factor in folk music itself. Unfortunately.