Greg sez: "...sorry, Joe, but because you and some other oldtimers feel youve said all there is that needs to be said about folk music: that doesnt mean the new generation of Mudcatters can be told to shut up and read the old threads."

I agree entirely. Those "oldtimers" who have "beaten [a subject] to death" in an older thread are free not to enter the discussion on a newer thread on the same subject; in fact, they are free not to open the newer thread. They've had their fun bantering the subject about. That shouldn't mean that the newer Mudcat members should be deprived of the fun of bantering the subject about.

Let's face it: reading an old thread conversation, without being able to interject one's own comments (except by refreshing the thread and saying "I have a response to something said in 1999") is not as much fun as being a PART of a vibrant discussion on the same topic!