My apologies for not responding sooner to Lindy's request for moderation.

I picked this location to post arbitrarily, since it's about here that the thread turns ugly, and down further it gets bad enough to justify intervention by a moderator.

As usual, nobody's exactly covered in glory from this pissing contest. But I do have to observe that it was RL who crossed the line, first, into insult and gratuitous attack. Not that Lindy and Bowser didn't enthusiastically follow, but notice how the question of RL's dual identity as ModBob eventually came up. Like it or not, Robert, you play a leadership role, and people follow your lead. If you set the tone to ugly, everybody else will take it as a license to be ugly.

Not to mention how people will feel justified in flaming if they feel they've been attacked. This tendency to swoop down from your mountaintop aerie and carpet-bomb a thread because people you don't like are posting on it is really getting old.

It's a bit of a contradiction in terms to have a moderator who's a frequent source of conflict and disruption, even if you are posting under an alternate identity. Polite fictions like dual identities can only be maintained in an atmosphere of politeness. Piss people off, and they'll violate the convention in a heartbeat and throw moderation status in your face. Like this incident.

So, to tell you all what you already know so well, knock off the flaming and pissing and cattiness here. If you want to fight, you know where to find the Flame board.