I hope you're satisfied Robert
This place looks like a MSNBC board circa 1998.
When discipline in the top tier fails, it gets imitated on down the line.
You're confusing respect with considered judgment. Your language, in your Robert Shepherd persona, is disrespectful toward a HabitableZone community member. You're echoing sentiments similar to those expressed by others, but you seem to have forgotten the special constraints you accepted when you became a moderator. Only the name identifies the post as coming from Robert Shepherd (normal guy); in content, it's pure Moderator. It is not your place, as Moderator, to like or dislike any member of the community. When you said "I have had it up to here with shit like this", you damaged your credibility as a moderator. Any future action you take regarding Gary will be seen in context of your personal dislike for the man. Your objectivity can legitimately be questioned.
That's just a slightly tweaked version of your lecture to RL.
Moderation does not mean one needs to censor one's views, but your outburst certainly didn't help the community. Like it or not...a moderator has to be above the personal animosity evident in so many of the normal board confrontations. As lead moderator the others take their cues from you and since this began we all have watched as Modbob/RL goes churns out a spasmodic flurry of anti-Lindy posts.
A moderator is in essence a diplomat, and even when they are not performing official duties, they don't throw out the decorum and become board brawlers.
Am I going to fire you, Robert? Nah. And I don't anticipate a huge groundswell of demand that I fire you, either (but be aware that there is already some sentiment in that direction). Instead, I'm going to do something much tougher--I'm going to hold your nose to the grindstone until you get it right...Hey...I couldn't resist.
;-)