Aaron,

No one is telling you to shut up. You have got to quit being so defensive. You are pretty new here so probably a little back story might be in order.

Just Plain Folks has been around for quite some time. There are not nessasarily 50,000 members all at one time. That is over a period of time. Some come around then go away, most don't even visit the forums much, very few have continuous discussions or even post. Some have joined through friends or other areas,when their CD's are submitted for the awards or other contests. I have known a lot of artists who have been members and didn't even know they were members. Their CD might have been submitted by another member of their band, publishing company etc.

What has developed here is a fairly small group of the overall site. There are member workshops around the world and they participate sometimes, sometimes don't participate at all. So when you start adding all these things a lot of things tend to dissapate. If you keep things mostly together it builds more people and that builds more interest.

Most of the writers here are not performers or might not be in the mainstream of performing. They are in different cities, countries, towns and this forum along with others are a way to keep in touch with friends and share opinions and information from the various areas around the world. People in other countries who might be interested in the States often particpate here because it provides them a bridge to wherever they are going.

You hear of a more Nashville or country componant here because almost all other types of music, rock, folk, blues, world, rap, hip hop, etc. are self contained, meaning outside the immediate artist's circle, producer, publishing company, lawyers, managers, etc. there are no outside cuts. So writing that type of material for the most part is futile because it is not even accepted. This is a trend that was started mostly by rock artists like Buddy Holly and the Beatles and have just continued along that since then.

Country has now taken up that trend with the prevalance for artists to write their own material happening about 92% of the time. So many of the writers either have some personal contact or are working on developing relationships with Nashville where the sense of community is more compact and managable than LA or New York have. Which is why so many writers and artists from LA, New York, Toronto, England, and other countries come here.

On your comments about the rest of the world, and the lack of American country music, there are several reasons for that, one of which is many countries, Canada included, have protectionist policies about how much foreign content is allowed into the country. Canada has a 70% Canadian content, which is why not that much is allowed into the country. Same with many European countries.

There are also not as much centralized booking agencies, record companies, etc. and many things change within the laws of each country. So it is actually harder to get American music in other areas. But many of the people we deal with here are coming here to interact within the American market. That is not being superior, just the way it has been. The same as the Beatles were always trying to get to America and exploded world wide when they got here.
With the Internet that is not as prelevant now but still many countries, and particularly artists and writers tend to come here if not to have careers here as much as to "soak up" craft and technical information. And as I say, the community of writers and artists here are simply more compact which is why everyone seems to know every one else.

As far as opening doors for other forums, there is not that much problems with that so much as when it has been tried before, it has not worked out very well. As I said before, a lot of younger people such as yourself don't really participate in things like this. So it would have the effect of limiting the things most of the people are interested in, in order to facilitate a few that might or might not participate.

Bryan has to look out for the overall health of the site and respond to the majority demand going on. People who post a good bit here, such as myself have their own reasons and interests. For me personally, the entire reason I am here is to stay in touch with friends I have made over the years who have been members here. Since my actual business is involved in things a majority of these people are interested in, and since many are trying to come into my neighborhood, I comment and share Nashville perspective in order to help them focus their time and more effectively spend their money more efficiently.

That is why you hear the Nashville and country music perspective
more often than some other perspectives.

MAB