Interesting reading, this thread. Some say it would depend on the amount of money charged.

I would look at that too of course, but the thing I would look at first is whether I thought the forum itself was valuable enough to pay for. In that regard, I wouldn't pay for all the BS and flame war stuff. But if paying a registration fee or annual subscription would get rid of the BS and flaming (which other pay services have done--if you read The Well, you see it never happens there because of good moderation) by providing good moderation, I would subscribe.

There are a lot of good folk music sites now available on-line, and good mailing lists too. I don't know that any of them could have produced the Drumcree threads, though. One of the reasons why I stay. Another reason why I stay is because I can tolerate the knowledgeable music posters here much better than I can those who post a lot in the Usenet forums. For me, I have to be able to tolerate the personalities present in the threads I read and contibute to for the place to be worthwhile. But to be honest, the obnoxious, overbearing, egomaniacal personality has become more the norm here, just as it is in Usenet, so I guess my days here are numbered too.

I expect the time has come, that we are now going to see yet another splintering of Mudcat, regardless of what Max does. There is too much antagonism present here for people to discuss music without hassle, without hijacked threads, without BS creeping into everything, and the most obnoxious personalities "winning" while many of us just try and muddle through with it "as is"--which in my book isn't worth much right now.