And if I have an opinion that somebody might disagree with, I shouldn't be allowed to express it.

If you wish now to return to being JUST a fellow poster again - you can express your personal view as you wish (if not now in a thread title). However, I think that it must be recognised that fellow posters have a right to be able to ALWAYS know in what capacity your personal views are expressed. And that jumping - as you do - between these two quite different roles - as and when you feel like - is very confusing and expecting a little too much from our forum - if you wish to be seen as impartial? As any moderator MUST?

Joe - are we really expected to believe that anyone is innocent or naive enough to think that if they volunteer and feel qualified to impose their personal judgement upon their fellow posters - that they will be universally loved and admired and all their totally selfless efforts be appreciated - by all of these fellow posters?

The example of your last post in this thread is a perfect one of you expressing an 'offical line' whilst posting as a conventional poster expressing their personal views - yet rather than consistently speaking as 'I' - insisting in this post as referring to 'WE'.

The following example of a editing comment (there are many such examples) - containing many personal assumptions and judgements (from the now closed - Censorship on Mudcat thread) - is probably equally confusing.

Ah, but Roger, I draw a little line. The space above the line is your space, and I leave it alone. And I write in brown, so people won't confuse my comments with yours. Besides that, my usual brown responses are editorial comments in response to your questions about editorial actions. Does it not seem appropriate to give editorial answers to editorial questions in editorial format?
As a matter of fact, what is wrong with the brown comments, other than that they are a violation of your own arbitrary rules that you seek to impose upon the editorial staff of Mudcat? Isn't that it? - that you want to be king, and you've had a royal snit for threee years now because no one has seen fit to recognize your royalty?
-Joe Offer-

Surely it is not too much for our forum to expect a clearer and more consistent line that is currently displayed - if the impartialty of editing actions is even to thought possible? Perhaps a choice must now be made - as to what is now more important to you? The ability to openly express your personal opinion or the ability to impose your personal opinion upon your fellow posters?

I suspect that most of us could deal with you (and other volunteer fellow posters) far better in one role or the other - than we can with you trying (and failing) to maintain them both.

---

Yes, Roger, if you posted to one of those general brawl threads or Spam threads that was deleted, then your message was deleted along with it. That happened with a number of Martin Gibson threads, because it was impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff. If you wish to have copies of any of those messages, I will gladly send them to you, suitable for framing. I didn't find any of them just now - but if you tell me where they are....I didn't know you were in the habit of posting to Martin Gibson and Spam threads.[sigh]

As for the brown Joe Offer and the black Joe Offer, they are one and the same, integrated person. The distinctions you wish to draw are largely your own artificial creation - another of the rules you see to impose on the actions of others, on this site that has no rules. When I answer questions about editorial actions, it would seem perfectly appropriate to express those responses in editorial brown - and that is the only communication I have with you. And you've become tedious again. You're prattling on about your one message in a thousand that may have been deleted with others in a flame thread, and trying to dictate when I type in black and when in brown. If that's all you can find to whine about, I guess I won't have anything else to say to you for a while. Your royal snit has now passed its fourth anniversary, and you have had little new to say since the first couple of weeks of your tantrum.
-Joe Offer-