Sounds great, Raggy. I must get to more beer festivals but, as they say, work is the curse of the drinking classes :-)

Slander and libel is not acceptable but, not being a legal expert, I cannot comment on whether such an act was committed. The point is, if a comment is defamatory, one has a choice. Either defend it in a court of law or robustly disprove the allegation amongst your peers. Just crying 'libel' is no defence, no matter how many times it is said. Besides, if your family and friends know the truth and it does not affect your real life in any way, what does it matter?

The rules of Mudcat debates are what they are. They have been discussed at length and I think we all agree that they are Max's business. This means that, regardless of how anyone feels about it, there are no sanctions for alleged defamation against either an individual or against a whole section of society. Some may not like parts of that but if sanctions are to be applied for attacks on individual members they should also be applied for attacks of minority groups. In fairness it should be applied to all or none.