Here is Joe Offer's entire first post to this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Responses to bullying
From: Joe Offer - PM
Date: 24 Feb 06 - 12:28 PM

No, it does seem like recent messages in that thread are bullying Roger, and that probably isn't right. None of those message is an outright personal attack, so we usually leave borderline stuff like that alone. If the entire tone to the thread turns toward bullying, then we might close it. If the entire Forum has a nasty tone - which happens at times - then we tend to be a little more ruthless in deleting entire threads if they're contentious. It's a matter of judgment and balance and timing - rigid rules don't really work very well in forum moderation.
Trouble is, the thread started out with a bullying, badgering tone - and we let it continue in the name of free speech, to honor the sensitivities of the thread originator. If we did any editing on that particular thread, we'd have to put up with another half-dozen 600-message threads telling us what tyrants we are.
So, it's a hard call to make. In cases like that, we usually step back and hope the whole thing goes away.
-Joe-

You may also have missed the following as it was inserted into an existing post as a editing comment and did not refresh this thread.

Dang. And I woulda sworn I said I cannot control the tone of a thread or the Forum, that I can only do damage control by deleting messages that are clearly personal attacks. I can often predict the tone of a thread from the way it starts, but I sure as heck can't control it.
Nobody understands me....

But yeah, I guess I do have to admit that the proposal for members-only BS posting does have a significant impact on anonymous Guests.
-Joe Offer-