I realize that I didn't make myself clear in the original post. It was fun to vent, but I should have done a better job of getting to the punch-line.

My post is not about me and my petty stick-in-the mud no-fun preferences. It is not about the quality of the off-topic postings. I am trying to put my finger on what I see as a deeper problem. Because of this problem I think the suggestions about wresting control of the thread back were naive. The problem as I see it is not that off-topic posts are annoying to some people like me who just don't get it. I think they can kill threads prematurely.

To be specific, I check the forum irregularly. Often, by the time I have a chance to check a thread I am following, it has grown a lot since my last visit. This thread is a good example of that. So, I either have to start at the top again, or if I have posted, start at my last post. As I am reading down the list of new postings, when I get to a long string of off-topic posts, I often eventually stop and abandon the thread. I almost did that with this thread. It has been my experience that a sufficiently long string of off-topic posts signals the end of the on-topic posts. I assumed that my behavior mirrored that of other readers who were interested in the topic of the thread rather than the asides. So, on some threads I have followed carefully, the off-topic posts have not been just a few weeds among the flowers, I think they have actually choked out the flowers. It seems to me that once the people who want to post on-topic have drifted away, they don't come back and won't respond to my renewed call for input

Sure, there's a lot of vagueness in the preceding. I haven't figured out what critical mass of off-topic posts it takes discourage people who want to post on-topic. But I think I see a pattern through a glass dimly and I am just reporting and complaining about it.

I do hope that no one really thought I was silly enough to think I could change this forum's behavior by venting. I'd just as soon try to organize a cat parade as get 'catters to do things my way.

Catspaw49, I meant what I said, and it applies as much to me as everyone else. Mudcat is great and if I have a problem with Mudcat it is MY problem. However, when this forum ceases to be of interest to me or annoys me sufficiently, I will simply stop posting. No preamble, no melodramatic farewell address. I am also not silly enough to think that my absence would be noted or mourned.

Aside from venting, I also posted to see if I was the only poster who cared. Apparently not, but I am clearly in the minority. I can live with that.

And I did learn a new (to me) unwritten Mudcat rule, no hijacking of Music threads.

This reply will also be a test of my claim. Is anybody here who cares to address the clearly stated topic of the thread?