Have your say here while you can - I am sure it won't be long before this thread is also deleted or closed.

If you don't want our volunteers to keep doing this in order to protect us from us - perhaps the original suggestion does not really deserve the derision it would have appeared to have received, mainly I would suggest from the minority who don't already adopt it as routine.

Not responding to obvious bait remains THE ONLY WAY to deal with those who only wish to yank yours or anyone else's chain!! If they was a REAL will to prevent such postings - this would be the ONLY method encouraged and example set. Of course if this was the only method encouraged - there would be no justification for our volunteers to protect us (and no fun at all). But who is going to protect us from our well-meaning volunteers - who do more damage and pose far more threat to our forum than our supposed vandals ever do?

Deleting and closing threads is responding in exactly the same way and providing just the required reaction as posting in kind to call someone an asshole. The only difference is when it is posted in (censorship brown writing) it make someone feel important and looks as if they are doing something and it does not bring the offending thread to the top again. In fact - after this action - there is no way for most of us to bring the thread back to the top again.

This is what was said at the last (thread) closing.....

OK, so I suppose it's time to close this one, too. I don't know what the solution is, but I do know it doesn't have anything to do with everybody calling each other asshole.
That kind of stuff makes it really difficult to carry on an adult discussion.
-Joe Offer-

When you don't know what the solution is and you are not sure what to do - I have always found the best course - is to do nothing.