Hi Stephen.....You're doing fine. The 2 cent history is that at first Mudcat was pretty much totally music discussion. About 4 years ago the place began to grow and with the growth came some other things. Mudcat began to develop a "village" atmosphere and we became a little more BS than had been the norm. We fought over this and occasionally still do, but the threads were often tied to music and a lot of good songs WERE written as a result of some of those BS threads. Along the way we lost some of the more scholarly types who found the BS objectionable, but many stayed and the thread mix became reasonably liveable for all. It swings back and forth and at the moment, even I, an inveterate BSer, believe we're a little long on BS and short on music....but I figure it will swing back again as time passes.
There is plenty of room for additional info to be added to or started about songs, instruments, and other music topics. Take a look at a thread called "Origins of -Found on Mudcat" and you can get the idea of songs that have been discussed and see what can be added or new suggestions for additional history of trad and other songs.
If you haven't checked the Mudcat Songbook, you can do that and see how many songs came from threads and the challenges that Mario mentioned. one reason that a lot of "music" threads such as lyrics requests and even the history threads drop down so quickly is becasue we have been discussing them before and there is less and less info available. Lyrics requests are often quickly answered through an old thread that already has a history of the song on it.
One thing that bothers me is that when a question is asked or a topic comes up and I or one of the older members links some previous threads on the subject, it is NOT to stifle discussion. It is simply a way of getting more answers from more people, some of whom may no longer be posting. The fact that we can pull up any thread here is a great thing because it gives us more opinions and more information....some of it may be exactly what someone is looking for. I get pissed at folks who say, "That was then, this is now," because much of the information is as good now as ever.
There is plenty of room for all kinds of threads whether it's researching a song or just having a laugh. I would hope that we all can see that and and also keep in mind that what brought us all here was the music and be sure that we continue the threads that keep others attracted here too.