Noone's mentioned Spancil Hill - but I imagine that is because it should automatically be included.
- and the way it then led into the creation of an online story.
Songs about Vietnam War - because that showed the song gathering and the discussion side of the Mudcat interacting in a way that couldn't really happen in any other kind of medium.
Field of Athenry and The Hills of Athenrye - because these threads show a falsehood which has spread like wildfire - Pete St John being accused of passing off an old song as a new one - being identified and nailed here in a scholarly way. Again something that couldn't have been done as effectively in any other medium.
And I think that the succession of threads about campaigning for a change in the law in England restricting music in public houses and so forth is actually quite historically significant, showing how people in different parts of the world can get together to assist folk musicians carry on and develop a tradition.
And in a different way, the way that the Mudcat reacted to September 11th, and the way that InOBU's song about the firemen came out of it and spread is an example of the Mudcat carrying on a traditional role of folk song, in a new context.
And threads showing how the Mudcat has been responsible for gatherings of folk musicians who otherwise would not have met, and exchange of music and so forth in a way that is very different from folk festivals - those are relevant enough too, if part of the aim is to show that the Mudcat has contributed to the process of carrying on the folk process in a new age.
And the enormous number of songs which the song challenges have been midwife to - songs largely based in folk traditions; and some pretty good songs among them.