...but I find the more knowledgeable music people haven't just left Mudcat because of the negativity. They've pretty much left any and all the music discussion forums.

While you might see the occassional posts here and elsewhere in folk music cyberspace from really knowledgeable folks, I find the people with a deep and wide knowledge of the music don't spend near as much time in these discussion forums as they once did. As Art points out, you just start spending less and less time on-line in discussion forums, and more time getting back into the 3D music communities where you live. Which isn't a bad thing, but those of us who remember the early days of the Internet when you could discuss things with people who really did know what they were talking about from across the country and around the world, find the present day folk cyberspace quite pale by comparison.

Still, I'd love to see a folk music discussion forum that was moderated to keep the riff raff, trolls, flaming and general bullshit out. But folkies seem stupidly stubborn that way--most folks seem to feel it is better to keep all the music discussion forums open to all, rather than provide a high quality discussion forum for people who are truly serious about on-line communications about the music. Which has ended up meaning that folks serious about wanting to talk music have pretty much just given up on the Internet.

And I'm pretty much there myself.