Athough a few of you would like to think that the decline in Mudcat posting has to do with your determined and unrelenting petulance, the change is more likely connected to the fact is that there is a lot out there that didn't used to be, and not as much here as there used to be.

One can, for instance, now go to YouTube and hear and see nearly all of the artists that one can only discuss here. And there are discussion threads attached. Even better is Spotify--I spent most of last evening listening to the Almanac Singers, and last week, spent nearly 6 continuous hours listening to Dave Swarbrick.

One cannot come to Mudcat and listen to artists, and if one wants to hear what a tune sounds like, it is catch-as-catch-can--abc files, though useful, are far from the state of the art, and Mudcat Midis were never comparable to those at The Contemplator. If one wants to hear a folk tune, there are collections sound files and midis of the different genres all over the internet.

People used to come to Mudcat to request chords for tunes, but there was never any effort to standardize the way that they were posted, let alone collate them or make them easier to use, and, as a consequence, chords are much better elsewhere--

If you want to complain about Dick Miles, Guest from Sanity, Spleen Cringe, this is the place, but if you want to hear them, or any of the dozens to hundreds of Mudcatters who are also performers, good luck, because there are none of the clickable sidebars that have gotten to be the norm on other sites.

And even the ads, which support the site, are mostly inappropriate-where are the Martin Guitar ads, the ads for capos and strings, the ads for portable sound systems, the ads for folk and traditional recordings?

And finally, where is an online platform for folk/traditional and ethnic music? Instead of supporting the creation of one, the good folks at Mudcat(you know who you are) decried MP3 files, P-to-P, Napster, Limewire, and such things as "stealing", and browbeat anyone who mentioned them. Now take a look around...

I am not criticizing Max, Joe, or any of the others for any of this. They have had a lot on their plates over the years, and have handled it very well. New ventures require new people, new money, and new commitments, and the "Mudcat community", hasn't stepped up to the plate. Yeah, you throw a few bucks in when somebody begs for it, but just a few...and you fight change tooth and nail...and so it goes...