I've been here longer..4 1/2 years or so...and it is not exactly what I'd like.

But listen....how in the hell can ANY forum suit everyone all the time? IF IT IS OPEN it will allow almost anything. That is both the beauty and the detriment of 'openess'....and if it was highly moderated and controlled, with "chat cops", some would bitch about 'those narrow-minded, unfriendly, cold so-and-sos who can't allow discussion or an off-topic remark'..You KNOW they would!

How can anyone pick JUST the right mix of chat and song searches? You wanta be in charge?? You think YOU can satisfy everyone? Pooh!! The internet/WWW is a big place...raise a few $$$ and start a site that YOU run and see how it goes. Yeah, the signal to noise ratio gets a bit lopsided sometimes, but if you HAVE a music topic, it WILL get addressed.

For God's sakes---many of the obvious directions and questions were asked and answered 3 or 4 or more times, and can be found with Supersearch!....But those who asked and those who answered found out they could also meet new people and trade idea...as well as keep up with events-both musical and otherwise- among themselves. Yes, that means asking about a song one day, and trading cookie recipes the next!!!!!

So...what do we have here? We have more than a music database and song search forum...we have PEOPLE who have varying interests in music who also have other interests in life and each other!...That is called a **community**....and in a community, you get neighbors you enjoy and respect, as well as some you don't!.......and let me make the point that it is MUCH easier to ignore the ones you don't like here than the ones who live next door to you!

Not good enough?? You want everyone to 'behave' just like **you** define good behavior? Fat chance!

I could type till my damn fingers fall off trying to make the point that Max has decided that an **open** forum is what he wants....and there'd still be the anonymous whining and flaming & trolling!! If Max asks me, I'll tell him that I'd like ro see some things done a bit different....but ****I**** can live with it as it is!! It is STILL one of the most amazing places on the WWW, sort of resembling a large family that is forever wrangling about where to go and what to have for breakfast...but always getting the needed stuff done!...

I can find a song, make a joke, complain about the president, get sympathy for my sore toe, find out how to re-string a harp, compare notes on wood, find a place to stay in Colorado, ...and yes, get RELIGION, if I've a mind to...and I can complain about religion, or songs ..or YOU and what passes for YOUR attitude.

But, if I complain or help or just nod wisely....it will be Bill D...that's Bill Day, Wheaton MD...doing the talking, unless the subjest is so personal that I need temporarily to ask a question anonymously...(that has happened ONCE in 4 1/2 years!)....I made my early pleas to limit the forum to mostly 'folk/trad' music, and now I just shut up and sort thru things...and I still get a lot of good here.

Now, I suppose that there have been 14 more posts since I started typing this...and I'll confess to a morbid curiosity about which 4 year member felt the need to start ONE MORE useless thread saying "but Mudcat used to be SO much nicer"....but I'll live with my curiosity, just as I live with Mudcat not being exactly as I'd wish....crap...the USA and my Mother and Sears-Roebuck and SEX are ALSO not always exactly what I'd wish, but they're all pretty damn good!......

Think about it!