I pay $400 a year toward the operation of Mudcat. How much money do you donate to Mudcat every year? Is there any reason on earth why I should feel bound to give any sort of accounting to you, of all people?

I am not sure that I understand this - why me of all people?

Is it that you do not wish to answers perfectly reasonable questions or that you do not (for some reason) wish to provide them to me?

Perhaps you could explain why you and your appointees - none of whom have ever met me - think that is OK to presume to know me and my motivations and that it is OK to post publicly making all sorts of hostile personal comments and judgements about me - even when Big Mick - for example - is thinking of some other poster entirely!

Joe says - Shambles, if you walk into a store and buy a piece of penny candy, are the merchant and his employees required to open their books to you? If you conduct yourself in stores like you conduct yourself here, you may be likely to starve.

Joe perhaps you could explain to those reading this what exactly you mean by "how I conduct myself here?" Joe this is OUR forum - not a shop that belongs to you and your appointees - whose conduct would appear to be far more questionable than mine.

If this were a shop and you turned customers away smply because their views may mot conform to yours or they were not to your personal tastes (or the varied personal views of your staff) - your shop would not be in business for very long. But it is not a shop.

I have been a contributor to our forum here since 1998. If you finally provide me with the answers that I politely request - I and others can decide if the forum remains a place where we wish to continue to contribute to, or if it has already bee 'taken - over'.

If one can now buy an 'indulgence' that entitles posters to freely pass judgement, insult and censor other people's contributions - it may not be the open forum that it was intended to be and that many posters are still under the impression that it is?

If you can buy the 'indulgence' - can you put me down for one? Joe if I pay The Mudcat $500 per year - can I then insult, judge and censor your contributions? That would appear to be the advice I have received (Big Mick may or may not be referring to me in the following).

Subject: RE: Why are my threads been deleted?
From: Big Mick
Date: 29-Dec-03 - 09:46 PM
Roger, I have the answer. You simply need to contribute financially to the Mudcat in a substantial enough way to have your say. You don't contribute your time, you don't contribute money..... but since I have been here, you do contribute an awful lot of whiny bullshit. You are so full of discontent, yet you stick around. I suspect there are deep psych reasons for this.

Big Mick was responding there to these ('whiny bullshit') comments of mine.

I don't see any 'what's wrong with Mudcat' threads and unlike the clones and their 'snitches' who are encouraged by the clones to the scrutinsing for them - who would appear to have a rather low opinion of other posters - I don't see very much to complain about The Mudcat forum.

Not everything there is to my taste but as the forum is the sum of all of its contributors - why would I expect it to be and why would I expect it to be changed so that it was all to my taste?
That is rather my point for if there is nothing wrong - there is nothing that requires putting right by editing, moving posts or encouraging posters to complain and make requests to edit or move other people's posts as if that had now become the sole purpose of the forum.