Welcome back, Azizi. Good to see you try to clear the air.

I didn't see the offending thread & post, though I did see the one that set off Peace, and his responses to it.

How to deal with it?

I have to admit my first impulse is to do what Peace did. But I've learned over time to not go with my first impulse, at least in an Internet forum (in person, however, it's a different story). You really do have to develop a thick skin when on-line. There are a lot of people out there who like to get other people riled up, for no other reason than the sense of control it gives them. I might speculate on why, but I really don't care; they don't deserve the attention, frankly.

And as for whether responding to them encourages them to come back, I think it might. They remember this place as a good one to come to when they want a fight. As for why they want a fight, well... see the above paragraph. There are a lot of right-wing oriented people who come here to post and argue and discuss, because they find a lot of left-wing thinking people here who oppose their views. Hey, it's a folk music oriented site. Go figure!... Why do they keep coming back? Because they get something out of. And most of those discussions are constructive, if polarized. Nature of the beast, really; short polarized posts read better than long, reasonable monologues. What works in face-to-face conversation doesn't work as well in an internet forum because so many of the tools of communication we humans have evolved don't come across in a series of typed words.

But with the out-and-out rascist and insulting posts and threads, I'd say the best course of action would be to not respond to them (giving them what they want) and to either post a request for deletion or send a PM to Joe Offer requesting their deletion. If a discussion forms over such issues, while it may have some positive benefits, it makes it hard for Joe and the Clones to decide what to delete. It's a very hard topic to discuss without tempers flaring and things falling apart into chaos. Which is too bad because it's a very important issue which needs discussing. Catch 22...