When the forum grew past what Max could deal with personally, he decided to trust several others with varying degrees of responsibility.

We have conflicting positions given about who is appointed to do what and when but more importantly about what the actual level of abusive posting and censorship really is. On the one hand we are told that the level is such that Max alone cannot deal with it. On the other hand we have Joe claiming that this action and censorship is minimal. Both of these cannot be so. It is either a large problem or it is a small problem. If it is not you who has their posts deleted or are wrongly accused – you may always consider it to be a small problem. If you are the unfortunate one – it can be a rather a larger problem.

We have the common if misguided belief expressed by John that. The rule here, and as far as I know, it is the only rule, is that you can say anything you like, about anything you like, but you should not personally attack or insult another member, I can't see ny problem with that rule. I say misguided as John recently had his posts deleted not because they were abusive but that Joe considered them to be incoherent.

Now if the above was the ONLY hard and fast rule set and enforced by Joe (who thinks it OK to call me an idiot in this thread) – it would still require someone to make value judgements as to when or if the 'rule' was transgressed. On these rare occasions it should not really present Max, as the owner of the site, with too much of a task.

But a scan of Joe's FAQ will show that it is far from the only hard and fast 'rule'. A look at past postings on the Help forum will also demonstrate that posts and entire threads are moved, deleted and justified for many reasons other than personal attacks. The list of our postings that Joe will delete from our forum if and when he sees fit is already long and shows all the signs of becoming even longer.

For example, where was the personal abuse or danger presented by my duplicate postings that required Joe to delete them? There are many such examples if you care to look in the help forum (or 'snitchers' corner).

The BS split

As a response to years of whinging about what other people should or should not be allowed to place on our forum - from a vocal few - the BS division was produced. In reality, this has done away with the need all this whinging and for censorship, deletions and for so many value judgements to be made, resulting from this whinging. The very few value judgements that may still remain to be taken can easily and non-controversially can be taken by our creator – Max who is the site owner and deserves all the credit for the creation of the forum. Although one can see why he would not wish to be involved in such tittle-tattle.

If the thread is not music related it will appear in the BS section or can later be moved there if is really thought to be worth the effort. So anyone looking through BS threads should reasonably expect to be confronted with BS. Should anyone then choose to open these and are then offended by what they read there – surely the fault is largely if not entirely down to them?

If we accept the above and are prepared to be a little tolerant of each other – the need for an omnipotent Witchfinder General – if ever there was such a need – is gone. If there is no one telling you what is not allowed - for you to struggle against – perhaps for some of our guests, it will not be as much fun to try and peace will eventually be allowed to settle at last upon the Mudcat forum……………...?

But if you liked being Witchfinder General (or like Bill D you liked to lick their boots) - you may have a vested interest in painting a picture of a forum awash with abusive postings that we needed protection from and peace would not really be a desirable objective?

As the present system cannot produce a satisfactory solution for all of us, an alternative where we are encouraged to respect each other's postings rather than currently where we are being encouraged to complain about, censor and judge them, must at least be worth a try?