(I had to respond to this thread despite a major respiratory flu, so please bear with misspellings etc.)

Well, I got half way through this thread and decided not to bother reading the rest. I don't have the energy for it. I just have a comment or two to make. This is a music site, first and foremost. That's why I come here. It's usually pretty easy to see which threads are inflammatory. I avoid them. In fact I probably only read about a 1/3 of the music threads, on a good day, because I am primarily a Celtophile and while I like most folk music I don't have time to hang out here all day. I come for the stuff I'm most interested in. It so happens that I've met a lot of like minded folks on the Cat. Folks who share not only my love of music but my brand of spirituality, and my love of the earth; who are interested in healing (thank you, Kat, for bringing it here), gardening, and all the other things we Catters sing about. Of late I have had less time to devote to the Forum, and even less time to share my thoughts. I've had my share of painful experiences here--- attacks on me for my interest in astrology for instance nearly drove me away at one point. Then I thought-- Why? -- It's the music I went there for originally. Sure there are intolerant people there, but I can avoid them by being selective, and also by being tougher skinned. More importantly, when one person attacks another, we're really only showing our most vulnerable side. Most of the posts by guests that I've read (and I won't dignify that appellation by CAPS) sound like they were written by attention-hungry powerless bored people who have no friends (and perhaps a poor relationship with their Dad). It's just obvious. Why else would someone get his jollies by antagonizing others. Most of us have got lives, friends and something to live for. We don't have time to waste on poison. If Max were really the power monger he's accused of being this site would never have been built, because he wouldn't have had time to do so. Or probably inclination. Frankly Max I think your only real failing is that you care too much. But I respect you all the more for it. I think that you over estimate the power of these people to harm the Cat though--- there are too many of us who care about it. Maybe we need to do more to help you keep it alive. Just know that this is the ONLY site that I bother to visit regularly. For ME. I do a lot of social and political action, and alot of scholarship in many different areas, and the web is where I go for some of that. But the Mudcat is my spiritual HOME...