Hi Steve. I'm not trying to sell anything, so nothing to buy or not buy.

I think most people share many common values, including the diverse group of people who belong to Mudcat.

I enjoy and learn from your posts to threads regarding birding, plants, and the natural world.

Beyond that, it is clear that somehow we talk past each other. I'm not a debater. I understand you value getting up peoples noses. I don't. We are just different in that respect. Not to say I don't value the role of the gadfly. But a community or forum that is dominated by the gadflies is not a community in which I want to spend much time or energy.

You may be correct that there is not a different community forming on Mudcat. I really don't know. From the perspective of my training and work, however, I think you are naive to think that internet forums do not possess attributes of social community.

I also think you are way too modest in seeing yourself and other cohorts as fringe elements on the current Mudcat forum, irrespective of whether you think internet forums do not have characteristics of a social community.

I often enjoy your observations on the increasingly rare threads that relate to nature - birds, gardening, seasons, etc.