The point I was making, and I think its an important one is that. If you want the company of folksingers, you have to face the fact that folk music people are anodyne - they have opinions. And they express them forcibly.

The biggest joy of Mudcat to me is seeing, people of widely different opinions having dialogue.

People being people - they are not perfect. They are full of prejudice, bitterness from a lifetime of wearing odd shoes, chips on shoulders sizzling from the pan.....but its genuine dialogue.

Its the people who in some parts of the world would be killing each other, but here on planet mudcat - they are talking. Perhaps some people can only manage to swap insults. But it is a genuine meeting of minds.

The best time is when I've made friends and gained respect of people who were initially bristling with hatred. The worse is when people have died with our differences unaccepted and unresolved.

Sometimes, I confess, my fault. But something learned there.