Michael K: Unfortunately, you are right, these changes will not be made, and here is why.

Music/Song/Lyric Discussions is not what the Mudcat is. Music/Song/Lyric Discussions & Everything Else is what the Mudcat is. The great thing about the internet is that it gives just about everybody the ability to build their own Web sites.

IP address: Its much safer and far more practical that I keep them to myself. At very least it allows us to take an official stance on issues before someone anonymously acts upon them. The only things to do with an IP address anyway is to 1) contact the ISP and PROVE that they broke one of that ISPs rules (which would mean that you would have to learn that ISP's rules) or 2) PROVE illegal activity to the FBI or 3) Hack the IP.

Bugsy: That feature will be in the new site, in fact I have it done already.

Amos: RE: Text Formatting: I'll try it. Not sure, but it seems doable in my brain. Like the idea.

Charlie Baum: RE: Edit your own messages: The Mudcat Council has pondered this issue for years now, and I think we have decided that it cannot be done in any simple fashion. The reason? Someone could say some very bad things, then change it before being held accountable. We will be happy to continue to fix your errors, plus it gives us all a laugh around the watercoolor at headquarters.

RE: Preview message before posting: I will consider this one. The only concerns I have about this is having too many features in the way for a quick post. I want to keep it simple, so its never a burden, and always the least possible resistance to speak up. I like the idea though and will attempt to resolve my concern with technology.

Everyone: RE: Formatting of Message Posts: There are ways to format messages more naturally, but I have been afraid to change it. We have been so used to doing it this way for years, and Joe and others have gone to so much trouble teaching folks the valuable skill of HTML. We'll have to learn the ins and outs all over again. I am still fooling around though, we'll see.

RE: Storage Space: Folks, don't worry about storage space. That we have plenty of and getting more is cheap and easy, that is the least of our troubles. Computation is far more important than storage, and the only thing we can do about that is buy more PC's to share the load of our ever popular Mudcat.

Don't be afraid, the changes I am planning are to make things easier for EVERYONE, not just fast computers or sophisticated users. Many, if not most, of these changes are to simplify and speed the Mudcat.

Joe: You'll get most of those wishes. I'm just a few days away from letting you into the development site. You because some of the changes will force you to update some of your Newcomer's Guide stuff.

That's all for now folks, thanks for your suggestions. Believe it or not I hadn't thought of a couple of these improvements.