But the biggest bullies here are management! They set the tone! And in this forum, they are constantly being abusive, engage in name calling, petty power tripping (the censorship, closing theads, attacking posters, and generally abusing their power), and other over the top behavior for moderators. Not only that, but their paranoid, super secret, only we have a decoder ring crap is infantile.

In well moderated forums (which this one isn't), the moderators are not the thinnest skinned bullies on the block, like they are here, there is a clear, simple set of rules of behavior which are consistently enforced without personalities getting in the way.

But as someone always points out, ultimately this is Max's website, so he chooses how the forum is run, what gets tolerated, who the moderators are, etc.

This forum reflects the kind of person Max is, because he is the one responsible for it. Joe and the clones are merely the henchmen he hides behind. But this place won't "grow up" because Max doesn't want it to. Hence, this forum's perpetual adolescent tone and ambiance.

You know you have a shitty forum, when there is no legitimate process through which complaints about management can be addressed and resolved.