I'm sure Don can take care of himself too. He never seemed to be too emotionally invested in the sparring.

Guessing at the real reason Jerry left is pretty pointless. We know it's the abusive stuff, but what abusive stuff, and by whom, and is he really that hurt, or has he simply decided this place isn't fun for him anymore? I can only speak for myself, but a couple of people who are dedicated to trying to make people feel like shit are pretty easy to ignore. It's the fan club - the ones who decide to 'fight fire with fire' that turn threads that should have gone on being about their original subject into conflagrations.

Look at this thread: pointing fingers, looking for who and what policy to blame. "It's the GUESTS fault," "It's __________'s fault," "It's Jerry's fault for being too sensitive," "It's the fault of those who, I believe, should be protecting us from ourselves." You know what? It's all of us. We get into shit-slinging matches, and the stuff splatters and the whole place stinks. Maybe once in a while, if you're tempted to get invoved, you could just duck the occasional turd and let it fall to lie on the ground, ignored.

As to moderation, should Max decide to go that way (flap, flap, oink), define exactly what you think should be deleted (Is anger abusive? Is irony abusive, if innocent bystanders may not 'get it'? Is profanity abusive?), who should do it (I really don't feel like I want to babysit a bunch of adults who should be able to 'filter' their own meanness out before sending), and figure out WHY they should want to do it, and how you're gonna force whoever's doing it to do it. Figure out what should happen when they don't. Keep in mind that perhaps the LAST person you want deleting stuff is somebody who says "Ooh, let me do it...I WANNA do it!"

I can make a suggestion that will solve all our problems and drastically reduce the nastiness and the perceived need for moderation. If the kids can't play nice, close the playground. Shut down the BS section for a while, and see if that helps.

I hope Jerry just decided to take a break. I'll miss him, but I don't blame him. I've been close enough to leaving myself not to understand, but I would miss the people and discussions I care about too much.