My God what a dull thread this is turning into.
Mr FS, I think you are in the minority here but you are not prevented from expressing your views. That doesn't mean anyone has to agree with you.
The spate of spam (and you only see those who actually make it to post - many many more accounts are blocked by Steve and myself before they get that far) is hard work. However this wasn't spam. (Wikipedia says SPAM means Stupid Pointless Annoying Message btw). it was an offer of sale (not an obligatory purchase) of something which might be of interest to users of this board. Just because you can get it cheaper doesn't devalue this offer. The post doesn't even fail under the profiteering thing in my opinion: just to be clear, that is aimed primarily (well almost solely) at ticket touts after a quick buck - this guy is presumably running a business - and yes, there is a difference.
I moderate on another forum and the moderation is not done in moderation: if a thread strays from original topic it is dealt with, using the delete button; if a topic is not related to the purpose of the forum it disappears; posts are deleted and amended by mods to remove potentially offensive or libellous words. It's hard work. The effect is (usually) an exceedingly well behaved and "polite" forum, which actually informs users rather than acts as a playpen for them. You simply don't get the banter, idle chit chat and straying off topics we get here. That site has a lot more regulars than this one (but you can't draw any real conclusions from that).
And while I'm at it, discussion of moderation policy is one thing which is strictly banned from that forum. If people don't like it then disputes are done in email, directly with the moderators. The stock reply is "well tough, the moderators decision is final and if you don't like it you can go elsewhere". I'm not for one minute suggesting that should happen here nor am I suggesting that you go elsewhere - I'm just trying to out-bore you.
I'd agree that we have been less than welcoming on occassions so I'll take more action to stop that if it occurs again. However it's no good getting arsey with the moderator because one's ever-so-witty (but potentially offensive) post was removed. The moderators won't always get it right (witness my deletion of your "eye" picture - can you send me a copy btw?) but it's a crap enough job without having to explain everything to everyone in minute detail.
btwI didn't see Bob's thread today but Steve did, and contacted Bob to explain why it didn't belong here. Political correctness maybe. I'm sure we'd all agree about our over-interfering nanny state, but that's the way it is and grumbling on CA about it won't change it. I also don;t see why the moderator's decision should be questioned - we are acting on behalf of the website owners, who have every right to determine how their forum is operated, and in some circumstances the website owner (and mods) could be legally liable if libellous statements remained on vuiew (although I know practically this hasn't been properly challenged yet).
So, are you bored now? I am. Bbl.
