I first stumbled on Mudcat looking for the lyrics to a song. I found them fairly easily using a forum search and didn't need to ask for help or start a thread. Once here I lurked as a guest for a while before realising how interesting and fun the forum is. My interest in folk music was minimal, and I found most of the music threads pretty much incomprehensible. I stayed almost exclusively in the BS threads, enjoying it enormously. Occasionally I would stumble into a thread discussing the provenance or interpretation of a song I recognised, and I started to become really interested. Once or twice, I even managed to post to a music thread without making a complete prat of myself. After a time I realised that as a librarian I might actually be of some use finding links/lyrics/information for people, and gradually a change of emphasis began to occur in my Mudcat habits.

Now, after just over a year as a member, I cannot say that my interest in folk music is minimal, it is becoming one of the passions of my life, and I spend less and less time on BS threads. Were it not for their existence, however, I doubt I would ever have returned after my first visit. Now I am a convert.

I understand people's frustration with thread topics, but it is called a Café intentionally. There is no café in the world where conversation is restricted to only one subject.