Mudcat is great as a contribution to folk music, both as a way of helping us get in touch, but also as a serious addition to the academic side if ut. Witness the Spancil Hill thread, most dramatically, something that would nloty ave happened without the Cat.

But it is also I think remarkable in other ways, as a model of how a transnational virtual community can be built up, and can do the most remarkable things - including generating a range of communal activiies in the 3D world that would never be possible without the Mudcat. There ought to be room for getting practical and financial support arising from this side of it, as well as from teh folk side.