I also noted that this thread was refreshed by toadfrog, who in the "Cut and Paste Prohibitions" thread, seems disturbed by the double standards for regulating bad behavior in the forum--one standard for guests, one for standard for members.

I don't know what your motives were for refreshing this thread toadfrog. I don't know that most people will bother reading this long a thread. It is a good illustration of a serious problem in Mudcat which still exists. Max made the same threat Joe Offer is now making on his behalf, in the "Cut and Paste Prohibitions" thread. Neither have made good on their threats to get rid of the guests.

So what does their (Max & Joe Offer's) anti-guest vitriol accomplish? I think the answer is, it maintains the forum hierarchy. Why they feel they need a forum hierarchy that allows members' shit to roll down hill onto guests, I'll never know. But maybe they like the power buzz they get by being the group's alpha males. Over and over again, you read posts that say "as soon as I saw how guests were treated here, I joined right away". That should tell the Big Dogs something--like the member/guest log-in system has created a sub-class of posters, and that sort of dynamic isn't a healthy, positive one.

Lepus Rex is right. Some members here really do have a dysfunction about anonymity. But the member/guest problem here goes much deeper than that. Max & Joe's behavior is textbook male dominance. It is about power, dominance, subordination, and hierarchy. And there is a very dark side to that. Very, very dark.