nutty, as sophocleese said in the other thead, the problem isn't with the member/guest thing--problem posters are merely using that as a guise for stirring up trouble. The problem also isn't with anonymity, as many members enjoy anonymity by using pseudonyms.

The problem in Mudcat is that it has become inundated with flamers and trolls. And I don't mean the Mudcat definition of flamers and trolls (which is usually invoked when a guest states an opinion at odds with the Mudcat majority opinion). I mean the Usenet definition of trolls and flamers.

As sophocleese said, if Max is going to begin moderating the forum, he needs to moderate behavior of anyone (including some problem members) guilty of engaging in really bad behavior.

And I agree with the above guests, that Max's attitude toward us guests is both heavy handed and offensive. And that certainly won't help matters any either. But if that is really his attitude, and he really believes that making guests disappear will solve the problems, I don't think we'll see change for the better with a log-in change eliminating guest posting.

Quite the contrary--you get back what you give in life. Based upon Max's "open letter to guests" and his follow up posts, I'd say Max is getting about as good as he is giving when it comes to the behavior of guests here. With that sort of negative attitude toward guests from the site owner, it only follows that the membership is going mirror those attitudes in their every day dealings with guests in the forum.

What goes around, comes around. You get what you give. It is pretty clear to me and a number of other people that Max isn't near as generous as some of his guests have been to the forum and DT. It is a real slap in the face (again) to hear that none of us ever contribute meaningfully, when we have seen so many guests do just that, despite the abuse heaped on them by problem members and the forum newbies they suck into their sick game of "flame the guest".