I like Donna's sug on the shout box idea. I always thought we should have a chat room here, and those are free to set up and plug into. That leaves the shout box free for collab discussions, and the chat room open for discussing whatever. The shout box is so small, if you get more than 3 people in it (or 2 very fast typers) it's impossible to follow what's going on in the discussion for most folks. Chat rooms generally have more space to type in, the screen is bigger, and it's easier to follow multiple conversations.

As far as the genre discussion, I could see it like this:

County (includes Country Western, Country Rock, Alternative Country, Country Swing)

Rock (includes Pop rock, Alternative Rock, Punk Rock...)

Jazz (includes Swing, Avante Garde Jazz, Smooth Jazz...)

Folk (includes Folk Rock, Traditional Folk,...)

Bluegrass

Salsa

Blues

World Fusion

Techno

Christian/Gospel

R&B and Hip Hop

Other

I think anything else that came along would fit under one of those catagories. Just my lil' ol' opinion. I wouldn't think moderating those would take too much time. Assign people who are passionate about a certain genre and let them know the guidelines. I've always believed that a certain group of people, particularly the younger crowd, get scared away when they look at our Lyric and MP3 Forums...because they're predominately country. Anyone who disagrees, go have a look see right now.

If we want to attract and keep new blood around, we have to be more inclusive, especially if we want their participation on the boards.

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