[Watch_Man]

Originally Posted by geoffretired

Most of the people who post on this forum don't need moderators; they have no intention of upsetting anyone. Real life, however, means there will always be a few who don't play to the same rules.Eventually they have to abide by the rules/guidance set by Dave and the moderators or leave. It's as Marcus so rightly said in his post.
If the forum was being over moderated, it would be losing membership. It is growing, and that speaks for itself.Well managed disagreements bring progress.
I was unable to get onto the forum for over four days(technical reasons). I had a lot of help and support from Dave, even though the problem was probably a local one to me. The point is, I felt cut off from people I wanted to talk to and the support made me feel that it was important to him, too.
It's a very good place to be, in my opinion.

Geoff, I agree with most of what you say. This thread was aimed at a specific thread and the conduct of one member, not AIUK in general. Unfortunately forums are not like real face to face communication where it is possible to pick up body language signals and know when you have pushed it far enough. Sometimes those new to this form of communication step over the mark without realising it and need to be moderated. As I keep saying, I have been moderated several times and have absolutely no issue with that happening if I am out of line.

In the particular case no one posting on that particular thread had actually stepped out of line, it was killed before they could. My point was that I thought it was too proactive and should have been left to run and if they did step out, then mod it.