To GUEST from Venus (re your post of 28-Jan-02 09:03 AM): I assume that by referring to Mudcat as a "newbie forum" you mean to say it's a site for the folk-music newbie. Yes, there are plenty of folk-music newbies here, but surely you must be aware that many others here are "people with advanced knowledge" who interact not only with the folk-music newbies but with each other. Catspaw is one. What's to keep these people from joining your "advanced forum" and cracking wise there as well as here? Do you see the elimination of humor from said forum one of the "rules of engagement" that would be "policed"? Or would people who have displayed a sense of humor at Mudcat be barred from entering this "advanced forum" as hijackers?

In fact, some knowledgable people – even the humorless ones – would be considered "riff raff" by others in the 3D world. For folk and blues musicians, it comes with the territory. I'm not sure though, where we musicians are expected to draw the line within our own ranks as to who is "riff raff" to be "kept out" of an "advanced forum". For my own part, I don't like the idea of excluding from a conversation a person who is knowledgable on the subject of that particular talk but doesn't possess a sufficiently advanced level of general knowledge of music to be allowed to enter the forum at all.

But even if you do create this "advanced forum", why does it mean that those who join "need" to "get out of Mudcat"? Why hoard your knowledge amongst yourselves instead of sharing it and allowing others to learn from it? I understand the desire to have a conversation on a certain level without interruption – as sometimes a kid wants to hang out with friends his own age, without his little brother tagging along – but I don't understand abandoning that little brother forever. Why not start your "advanced forum" while continuing to post to Mudcat threads that interest you?

One of the things I like best about Mudcat is the relaxed atmosphere in which music is discussed, without "policing" and with banter. My feeling is that if a person (with advanced knowledge or not) wishes to start a thread to discuss a particular topic, and does not wish that thread to be "hijacked", then one should state in one's initial post the "rules" for that thread, and continue to "police" that thread to keep it on topic.

However, I suppose that those who have "voted with their feet" and left Mudcat would have found the police-your-own-topic solution too tedious. Of course it's easier to have someone else do the policing for you, and much easier to complain when one feels that someone else's policing is inadequate. But bear in mind that if you start your own forum, anyone who "votes with his feet" to join it is going to have his own ideas of how it should be run...... so...... don't be surprised when those people start complaining and start walking out on you!

Sharon