Sophocleese said:

"Some people need to know who is calling before they pick up the phone and some people don't need to know. But what's the use if you get the technology to let you screen out unwanted callers but cannot resist picking up the phone every time it rings anyway?"

Ah, this is it exactly sophocleese! Thank you for wonderful analogy. Also for the great insight into the "two types of people" who choose to post here as members and guest users. I'm an ideas person, not a relationship person. I'm no recluse, but I have a small circle of intimate friends I socialize with, and I try to keep the circle of acquaintances I interact with personally to a modest level. Being an artist, I need to set aside tremendous amounts of time for myself to get my work done.

I've had an unlisted phone number for over 10 years--before the "technology of privacy invasion" hit full steam. I realize I am now a distinct minority within the US population who even cares about protecting my privacy, especially among the younger set. I no longer post on the Internet using my real life identity. Not because I'm trying to "hide secrets" but because it keeps the number of posts to my email box down to a reasonable level I can manage on a daily basis. Before I made this change, I got a lot of unsolicited emails from wonderful, well meaning folks who wanted simply to chat because of this or that thing they had read that I'd written. It became a huge drain on my time, and I found I wasn't enjoying my time on-line anymore. I love the anonymity of the internet to exchange ideas.

But because I have plenty of good supportive relationships in my life, and I have a busy, full life to boot, I don't come on-line looking for community. I come here to side-step a lot of the emotional undertow of such relationships, and save my emotional energy for the people close to me in real life.

As to the phone thing, I don't have caller id. I often turn off the ringer on my phone. I never answer it when I'm "at work" (which is out of my home). One of the cardinal rules of at-home workers who have learned to use their time effectively is to use technology (ie voice messaging/answering machine) to answer the phone, while you get your work done.

The only real problem I have with Mudcat now is that the forum discussions about music (my reason for coming here) has been overtaken by the "community" that Mudcat has become. So my days here are numbered too (soon back to school year schedules). I'll spend my limited on-line time in forums where music is being seriously discussed, not here.

That's the way it goes on-line. It is cyclical. But when groups get hijacked from their original purpose, it's usually a sign of impending death, not a low point in the cycle. If no one with substantive knowledge about music frequents the forum, Mudcat will have outlived it's usefulness to the music community.

This summer, it looks as though that may just be where we've ended up. But hey--there are still a number of good music forums out there. For every group that bites the dust, another will rise in it's place.

Ciao!