Yup, I'll throw my 2p's worth of support in too.
Ban always makes himself perfectly clear, in non-offensive terms, when he wishes for something to be explained like the editing/deleting of posts.
The mods have now started saying "it's our rules, live with it or go elsewhere" which is fair enough to a certain degree, but here's an analagy (perfectly true, by the way):
I am a duty manager in a busy pub in Brighton. When it's my shift, the pub is under my control and I am perfectly within my rights to either refuse an individual service, or to eject an individual from the premises. From time to time, someone's behaviour will break one of the "rules". When that happens, I always explain politely in plain english why I am refusing to serve them or asking them to leave. I'd say about 90% of the time they are happy with my explanation and leave without issue.
Now, imagine if all I said was a brusque "My pub, my rules, go elsewhere", or even threw them out with no explanation whatsoever. I imagine I'd have carnage on my hands. Of course, the mods here don't have that problem because they're not face-to-face with the person they're dealing with, and don't even reveal who they are.
It's a good analagy to continue, because the main reason for posts being moderated on here is that the debate has become a bit heated. A good mod should be able to get a thread back on topic and remove personal insults without upsetting everyone. Most of the people I ask to leave the pub are otherwise decent people who have become a bit "animated" after one too many. Normally they're told that they're more than welcome to come back tomorrow, and everyone's happy.
Why can't it be like that on here? And so I return to my original point which is that I fully support Ban, in that EVERY item of moderation should be accompanied by a clear and honest explanation.
Simon.
(Crumbs, I said I was giving my 2p worth, that was more like a quid but it needed saying!)
I don't mean your age.
