or, Does Mudcat have Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome?

It used to be when a major event happened, we'd have a thread or two, from the initial reaction we all felt. After awhile it would fall off or we'd go off on a music-related thread instead. Sometimes, we had many threads, as in the guns threads after Columbine, but all within a fairly recent time frame of the event. We also usually had some modicum of manners toward one another.

We also had lots of BS, but it seemed to be more positive, more erudite, or harmless silly. The tangents such as Hokey Pokey were grand!

Since 9/11 it seems there has been a harder edge, as though we are all more ready to snap at one another and take potshots. It also seems we've been focussing in a much more negative way. While I realise it is important to note who has passed on, in the folk and blues music world, at least, I remember when it used to be rare to see an obit; now it seems we have them almost everyday. I am not saying we shouldn't, just noting that they exist. We also have endless BS threads on world matters which seem to offer nothing except carping, posting of non-Mudcatter's opinions, i.e. editorials gleened off the web, etc.; some of them make the old orange/green threads seem mild.

When we first started having BS threads, I was one of the biggest contributors, no argument there. We had endless seeming debates about whether to have it at all and also how to keep it in balance. I always thought we'd do a pretty good job of it. (This is not meant as another one of those threads; Mudcat is music AND BS, as far as Max is concerned.)

I do see a good number of music threads, every day and I do think we have some balance, BUT the BS, imo, has become so negative we need to stop and think about whether we want it to continue in that vein. Is it a symptom of a collective post-traumatic stress syndrome? Who knows?

I just know I keep hearing from folks who feel less and less of a need to stop by because of this negative direction they see and I'd hate to see them go altogether as some already have done. Some of them have invited their music friends to join in only to hear back that when they saw the rancor and numerous off topic posts, their collective reactions were basically "you're joking right? It's a chat forum. People would rather discuss just about anything other than music."

Goodness knows we are inundated with nothing but negative from the world news and our leaders, these days. While it is important to discuss these things, I'd like to think that Mudcat and its music can offer a respite from the daily fear-mongering; an oasis in a sea of change and uncertainty through more of an accent on the positive.

Thanks,

kat