Classiness. I come here for the classiness of the residents, as the previous posting so clearly demonstrates ...

Actually -- all of the above (except the possum's ass), plus it's the most exciting use of the new technology that I've seen. I spend my entire life, practically, on the Internet (content provider/writer/editor) and this is the one place I always return to because it is "home." It isn't full of flash and dazzle (thank God), but it is subtle and workable and the technology is remarkably transparent. You don't even know what's going on behind that curtain, just that when you type in "lyrics/chords request: Song about Blue Frog," people from all over the planet respond within minutes with their version of that song, or their memory of the first time they heard it, or helpful advice for searching the Digital Tradition for the song in question...

It is also the deepest embodiment of concepts described in "The Cluetrain Manifesto," the current Bible of e-commerce. What people want is connection, community, a place where they can be knowing and wry and even badly behaved if they want, and have it not mean anything as long as they're genuine. A place that recognizes and is actually fueld by what people have to offer, rather than just seeing them as little plastic pieces in some great impersonal Monopoly game. The Mudcat is the precise, polar opposite of the corporate cluelessness described in that book.

A few of the many things that fascinate me, and that attest to Max's brilliance, are the Free Speech aspects of the 'Cat, and the self-policing that goes on here. If you're around for any time at all, you quickly learn who the buttheads are, and everyone either gives them a wide berth, or slaps them silly (figuratively) every now and then and tells them to snap out of it! Read Amy Jo Kim's "Community Building on the Web" and you'll see that Max was way ahead out in front of the pack in envisioning a community that would work.

It's interesting to see people wander in here, obviously steeped in the culture of other chat rooms and discussion forums. They sometimes range from feisty to just plain ugly and rude -- and generally those people don't last long around here. We just don't tolerate meanness here. We tolerate irreverence, ignorance, vast religious differences, cultural chasms -- we are a hugely tolerant group, but we just don't put up with meanness here. To our great credit.

It's still a work in progress, and I continue to watch with interest to see how and where it goes. I think there's a model here for other communities, and I am a major proselytizer for Mudcat -- but only to people I think would be fun to have as neighbors. Or people who might have a bunch of money to give Max to create something cool like this for them, too.

I am deeply ambivalent about word of this getting out too much, however. When I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I had a sign on my desk that said, "Tourists destroy the thing they seek." I'm a good bit afraid of that with the 'Cat, too. We want it to be acknowledged for being the wonderful asset it is in our lives and the brilliant and creative use of technology to create more, rather than less, human connection. But we don't want it to get so big it loses its heart. Because that's really the connection for most of us here -- the heart, which is also where the best music gets created.

WyoWoman (Max has my permission to give you my contact information if you want it for any reason)