Looks like you were getting hit from all sides last night, but I think you did fine.

I didn't see any unfamiliar names on those threads, so we can rightfully expect any long-time poster to be able to judge the impact of a post. Expressions of surprise that a post is inflammatory are a bit disingenuous coming from a group of people with years of practice pushing each others' buttons. Feel free to assume that a flame or inflammatory post is intentional, and deal with it as a routine behavioral problem.

The existence of a Flame board only a mouse click away makes it very tempting to move controversial posts that would otherwise require much harder decisions. On the other hand the mild action of relocating a few posts may serve to serve to moderate the general rhetoric.

It's OK to give into that temptation; the idea is to have an alternative that reduces the time you need to agonize over the harder decisions. Trust your instincts. If it looks like a flame, it's a flame. When you move flames it not only improves the board you remove them from, the flame itself gains from moving to a venue with a much greater scope for expression. It's a win-win, despite the whine-whine that it's somehow restricting freedom of speech. That inversion of logic still makes my head spin.

And ignore that stuff about how the choice of what to move is stacking the deck of debate. You're not obligated to maintain the editorial balance of CE, and if one side or another chooses to express itself more often by flaming, tough. Let 'em learn the practical benefit of keeping it civil--you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. I think that the charge of unfairness is a red herring, an attempt to blackmail you into tolerating behavior you shouldn't just to preserve some chimera of balance. Don't fall for it.

Keep following your own best judgment.