I can see the possibility of what you are projecting.

However, how is Mudcat to be funded? To my mind, there are three alternatives:

1. Pledge drive, with the admitted possible disadvantage you point out.

2. "Going commercial", with banner ads and the like (if Max should be able to get that advertising), which certainly doesn't appeal to me, and which would certainly, to my mind, change the character of this place. And

3. To get a grant from some foundatation, say, that subsidizes nonprofit public-interest functions. This would, I suppose, be ideal, and I've heard that some effort has been made in this direction. How realistic this is, I don't know. Such a grant, if obtained, would presumably be good for a year, two years--some relatively short time. Then the question comes up again, and it's possible the grantor would not renew and we'd the same problem back again.

In the meantime, the problem is a present one. The commercial alternative, if successfully adopted, would make a permanent change in Mudcat. The grant approach, if one can be obtained, is a stopgap which must be renewed. The only alternative available NOW is the pledge drive. Q.E.D.

Dave Oesterreich