Basically, if somebody insults or hounds a member of any forum, they are flaming. If somebody is flaming that is against the etiquette of forums.

It is time the moderators started doing their job and warning and indeed banning these people.

As far as guests are concerned then there is a very simple way to deal with them, and this requires strong moderating.

Allow guests to post in a guest section, which is dealt with by the moderators. If the post is offensive, it gets deleted immediately.
Allow guests to read threads but not post unless it is in the guest section.

As far as mudcatters go, if they can't be civil, then ban them from the forum.

How long are you going to let this go on moderators?

If somebody posts a serious thread, one has to accept that other memebers may not agree with them. Thnat is fine, but if memebers start to flame , that is not acceptable.

There is one hell of difference if people post in supposed serious threads with good humoured banter, as long as it doesn't get flamed.

There should be a button to click on to warn the moderators if a thread appears to be getting offensive/ abusive / or out of hand. The moderators should lock the thread until the issues have been sorted out.

Above all if a memeber thinks that soembody is flaming them, then they should Pm the person stating their concerns. If that doesn't sort it ( in most cases with sensible memebers it should), then it should be reported to the moderators.

Moderators it is time to roll your sleeves up and get tough before things get totally out of hand. Its in your hands and shoudn't be shirked.

I am sure most decent members will agree with me and look to your controlling this situation moderators. Nobody else can do it.

There that is my ten penneth, and if somebody doesn't like what I have said then tough.It needs to get sorted now, before you lose all the decent members.