I see the opposite. But I don't want to go into that too much here.

The way I see it, there are 3 main factors to consider, in no particular order:

- goal of the site
- ideals and principles of the forum administrator
- wishes of the members

I won't go into the goal of the site. But my understanding of the admin, Reggie, is that he is mostly hands-off and I like that. I wish I could do a better job myself of not plunging into controversial subjects here. Even though I see a need for a *little* more moderation than we had to use in the past, I want to defer back to his approach. If we have to err, err to laissez-faire.

As for members... they want it both ways. They want a forum that's easy to navigate, free of clutter, but they want to gab too. That's human nature. Some of the opinions expressed on this subject try too hard to fight human nature... advocating a robotic adherence to the letter of the law, ignoring the spirit of the issue.

We do need clearer guidelines, and that subject is under discussion amongst moderator staff, but at the same time I'd like to see an overall exercise of compassionate judgment. Err to the side of tolerance. Don't delete threads simply because you're looking for "tidyness". That screws up the flow of a conversation. It also angers people to the point that they often respond with MORE noise (beware the Law of Unintended Consequences). I can tell you I wasn't happy at all to see some of my posts deleted recently because I felt it to be unnecessary. Deletion also erases history.

I also wish my fellow moderators will take context into account when deciding where a thread goes or stays. That includes the overall tenor and purpose of a thread.

I've said enough, and appear to be in the minority amongst the leadership here, so I'll shut up now. But I will say I simply can't and won't be a moderator if we are destined (as some would have it) to create a stifling, anal retentive atmosphere. That goes against my personality and principles.