As a JoeClone, I don't believe in censorship. I can't see myself deleting any post because of content, although I might alert the Powers That Be to particularly vile ones.

The way I see Mudcat, is that it's a place that Max created which has come to be a community. Max is not our daddy. He makes no attempt to control what we discuss or how we discuss it. Why? I think it's because we're the ones responsible for what goes on here. A flamer here and there doesn't do the damage to Mudcat - it's the members of the community who CAN'T LET IT GO without commenting. You know - the ones who keep the flame alive and often escalate the arguing. The way to stop this from happening is not to eliminate the provocation, but to eliminate our response. How many of the past "gutless coward" started flame wars would have been flame wars if no one had responded? NONE OF THEM.

The answer is not to ask someone to moderate us, but to learn how to moderate ourselves. There are assholes in all aspects of life. We don't ask authority figures to make them go away, or leave us alone. We leave them alone.

We will either learn, as a community, how to ignore flamers, anonymous or not, or this will go on forever. My prediction is that there will always be a large number of people who respond - either because they just have to say something, or they don't know any better - and this will go on forever.