Seriously, I have been trying to figure out what's at the heart of the PalTalk arguing since it started, because it sure as hell doesn't seem like the specifics people are arguing about. I may be wrong, but what I think it is, is ownership.

If you start a room with "Mudcat" in the title, it appears like it's supposed to be for the Mudcat community. If the general membership isn't asked before the deed is done, they're upset. If they criticise decisions, the group owner feels like folks don't appreciate their authority or value the work they've done, and they don't understand that people feel left out of the decision. They might feel like people don't even have a right to criticise, because it's their room.

Does anyone think any of the arguments would have happened if people had set up rooms called something like "Jeri's Place" or "Acapella Palace?" I don't. I think if I started another room with Mudcat in the title and told people about it after I'd done it, I could expect folks would feel like it SHOULD belong to everyone.

It really doesn't do much good to have several rooms where you expect the same bunch of folks, does it? It probably wouldn't hurt to try different set-ups, but if the only difference in rooms is who owns them, and they're intended for the whole group, they serve no purpose other than to show who's most popular and divide Mudcat PalTalkers into factions.

I'm not really upset at having PalTalk rooms cropping up all over. I think it's weird, but I'm not upset. They will survive or they won't. I'm disappointed in the unwillingness of people to try to understand one another, and the way folks seem so willing to "lose it" and lash out at each other.