As always it is a lot easier to start a thread than it is to finish it and while it is still going on. I would at least like it to finish (when ever it will) on a constructive note. Where indeed it seems to be at the moment. Let's just see if I can mess that up. *smiles*

First off I am sorry to all those who have felt bruised by this thread, that was not the intention and if is any consolation am feeling a little sore myself ( with this hatchet sticking in my head). It is a fool who cannot see where they have made mistakes and where they could have improved. As usual I get more out of the threads than I ever put in and it was during that process of examining the feedback, that the obvious hit me (or it might have been the hatchet), a little late it's true. The most surprising thing was that no one else seemed to see it. Alison came closest, when she referred to the content of the threads at that time, but did not really focus on it exactly.

The change to shorter, chatty exchanges, directed and addressed to individuals (if we can at least agree that is the change of tone, I was referring to), has only been apparent since our experiments with the various Mudcat Chat rooms.

In those places time is a major factor and this sort of exchange becomes the normal way of conducting business there. The tendency to be more interested in who is there, is far more important than what is actually being said. It is difficult, if not impossible to conduct a sensible conversation (unless you go off to a private room, which somewhat defeats the object of being there) as people are constantly arriving and leaving and you spend more time saying hello and goodbye more than anything else. The problem of excluding people there, is not really a factor as you can see who is there with you and it is only those people that will see what you say. Your words (such as they are) will not be recorded for posterity. Humour is very important there but everything is conducted on a pretty superficial level and it is not a place for profound thoughts.

I don't sound too biased, do I? I personally do not like them for those reasons and for more that I can't think of at the moment, but they do have there uses and do serve a purpose. It does enable you to get to know people a little better than here and I would suggest is a better place to do that. Having seen how much you can squeeze or paste in to that little text box on the Mudcat Personal Messages, I would recommend that as a method too.

The forum is different. it is not in real time, there are no time constraints and you can take as long as you like to say pretty much what you like. It is more important here, what is being said, rather than who is saying it. You can walk around for two days before replying. Everyone will see it and it will be recorded and can be refreshed at any time. If a post is addressed to someone personally and doesn't concern all who will read it, is not really using the strengths of the forum. I am not suggesting that this is never done in the forum. It would make it a less friendly place. It has always been done and it is part of the attraction for me too, but may be we didn't know, or want to know each other as well as we appear to want to now? We didn't have alternative methods for real time contact in the past, but we do now.

I suppose it might 'ruffle a few feathers' and it would certainly 'clog' things up, if in you were to go to a chat room and post all the words to 'Sir Patrick Spens' or ask for information on the Easter Island nose flute. That would not be it's strength.

We can't put the cork back in the bottle and some change is inevitable, but if it is not inevitable, we can decide whether it is desirable. The extent of that change is up to us.

All I am really asking is, do we want The Mudcat Forum to become just another 'chat' room?