Problems?

Subject: Problems?
From: GUEST,MickyMac
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 10:18 AM

Where did all the trad topics go? Has something gone wrong with Mudcat Cafe?

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: GUEST,Guest Patrish
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 10:23 AM

I think there has been a problem, I can only get in as a guest and have not been able to access all day. I hope its sorted soon - didn't realise how much I would miss it
Patrish

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: rangeroger
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 10:26 AM

Sure am glad to see it back on. I was lost for a day and a half. Actually had to do some work around the house.Welcome back Max.
rr

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: MMario
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 10:27 AM

Site was down when I tried to get in last night. Refresh forum with filter set to 3 days and you will see a lot more.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 10:28 AM

A few of us commiserated with one another in HEarMe last night...all suffering withdrawal pangs! Thanks for bringing it back up, Max!!

luvyakat

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: simon-pierre
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 10:31 AM

Glad to see mudcat is back. Kat, I was looking for the Hearme last night but i couldn't find the URL. I'll bookmark it today.

SP

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 10:32 AM

there used to be a place we could call or email to ask someone to 're-boot' a program or something....I think if it dies on a Sat., there's often no one around till Monday morning.(I can't get the help page to respond)

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 10:36 AM

Same here, BillD. Simon-Pierre, sorry I didn't have your email address, I sent the URL out to the one I had addresses for who usually come into HearMe, just in case they didn't have it bookmarked. Look forward to hearing you next Sunday!

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: wildlone
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 04:03 PM

The help forum was down as well, I have a link to that on my desktop.
dave

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 04:34 PM

Mickey Mac,

To get back to your original querie: You are absolutely correct ! Mudcat is merely a shell of it's former self. I truly doubt there is anything to be done about it.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Bert
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 04:40 PM

Where did all the trad topics go?
There's no one stopping you, or were you waiting for someone else?

Bert.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 11:38 PM

What to do when the internet crashes.
Practise, practise, practise.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 12:01 AM

Art, I think I know where you are coming from, I am also on a board that used to be mostly classical violinists and is now almost all folk fiddlers. But, since I wasn't here "then", I cannot say that it is different at the Mudcat. All I know is that the opposite of change is entropy, or to stop changing is to die. I do know that the Mudcat still engenders a feeling of Coming Home and of Community/Village, and is totally unlike any other site on the Internet. Don't leave us, Art, you are one of our Heroes.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 12:54 AM

Alas, change IS the name of the game. Just ask any T-rex you might come across. We all know (or should know) that truism. But that does not mean we must like it. Ask any Amish folks you might know.

I keep checking back here just about every day. When someone wants some bit of info I've got, I'm chomping at the bit to give it away.

Art Thieme (or old T-rex himself)

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Racer
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 01:13 AM

The people here do a very good job of addressing questions about traditional music. I always go here when I have a question about music. I rarely have to ask anyone anything because whatever question I have has usually been answered here.

This site is a collection of friends with a few transient people. We talk about the kind of things friends talk about.

When you think about it, what isn't related to folk music?

(this is the abridged version)

-Racer

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: The Shambles
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:28 AM

"I am inclined to think that a hunt for folk songs is better than a hunt for heroes" – Beethoven

The Last Roar. A link to the Mudcat Songbook.

Art.

You can choose to continue to be part of the problem or start to be part of Bert's solution…………. Why not start threads and answer the questions before they are asked?

For every thread that does not interest you, start one that does. ………Problem solved.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: alison
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:59 AM

There is a phone number somewhere.... Max gave us it ages ago.. so that when the 'cat crashes we ring up and tell the elves to reboot....

Joe used to have the number.. not sure if he still does....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: kendall
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:28 AM

I am a relative new comer here, so, dont know what the mudcat was like back during the pre-cambrian era. I do know that change is inevitable, and, resistance to change is also inevitable. Hell, if not for change, we wouldn't even be using computers, we would be back in the caves trying to invent fire! Art, I would like to see you post in detail, what interests you. I honestly dont know, so, tell us what the mudcat was all about back then.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 12:44 PM

"All I know is that the opposite of change is entropy, or to stop changing is to die."

If you don't renew something living, it dies. But that's not the same as changing, at least in the short term, which is the term in which we live.

There's good change that you help along, and bad change which you resist. And you get times when the various changes cancel out, so that things stay more or less the same, but you still get renewal.

The thing is though, we're at a time when the number of people using the Internet is expanding, so I don't think equilibrium is really on. Which means sorting out the good change from the bad, and helping the one and fighting the other.

There doesn't seem to be a time machine allowing copmparison with the way thigs were a couple of yeasrs ago, but I'm pretty sure there were a lot fewer people on the Mudcat, and fewer threads, so they didn't get lost of the page quite so rapidly, and lost in the crowd while they were still on the page.

I suppose there can be technical fixes that help out, but I think the main answer has to lie in people nurturing threads that need and deserve nurturing (a subjective judgement), in various ways, so that they have a chance to grow and bear fruit. I think the kind of threads that Art is lamenting the presence of are the sort lots of us would like to see - and potentially they are there.

Has anyone done a census of the numbers of people posting, and the time it takes for a thread to drop off the page, and the length of various sorts of threads?

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 12:45 PM

I meant the kind of threads Art was lamenting the absence of!! Makes quite a difference.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: MMario
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 12:51 PM

it takes 24 hours for a thread to drop off the default page. if you reset your bookmark and set default to 3 days, then it takes 3 days to drop off. That has NO relationship whatsoever to the number of thread and/or activity

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Bert
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 12:56 PM

One of the changes, that could have resulted in fewer traditional threads being started, is the 'super search'. How many people now 'find' their answer with super search who would otherwise have started a new thread?

Bert.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:01 PM

I suspect bert might be right there - in which case I'd hope it's transitional, and that as we get more used to it, more of us will wish to revive and continue old discussions that we weren't part of.

Some of the requests for songs are just that - bingo, and the right answer comes flying back. Convenient, but of not much wider interest. But the interesting ones are the ones that uncover little known variations, or trace a song back though its changes to some striking story. (Spancil Hill being of course the marvel here.)

The supersearch should in time thin out the straight request for information. But it could well increase the latter type.

How do you set about shifting the default from 1 day to 3 days? I didn't know you could do that. And does it put the Mudcat's resources under greater strain? Because breakdowns are a real pain - there's always the fear that someday it won't come back, and there we will be, all scattered around the planet out of touch, except maybe through email ("racing snail mail").

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: MMario
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 09:02 AM

On my broswer if I bookmark the page with the filter set to three days, when I go back the filter is still set to three days. I don't know how to change it on other browsers.

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 10:42 AM

It certainly isn't a "ballad" discussion group anymore, but esoteric folk music topics can still get a few responses. You have to keep things "refreshed" if you want the discussion to continue. On the other hand just think of the wealth of Dylan opinions we now have at hand. He may not have much to do with folk music, but he sure is popular.

From what I gather, lots of Mudcat cyber-sex goes on as well. Probably more than would happen on a "British ballad" website. Or at least with fewer chastity belts.

Rick

Subject: RE: Problems?
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:10 PM

Hey, Rick, how 'bout them Blue Jays? Red Sox Fan Seamus