If the powers that be have not shown an indication to change, it won't happen. It is no longer a question of right or wrong, because the only person that has the "right" answer is the host - who will do as they please.

Ron - your view is a reasonable one for a poster who has found our forum in the state of evolution that you have. But if you look back at Max's public statements - you will not see the 'take-it-or-leave attitude to the wishes of our forum's posters - that you quite reasonably express.

Again it must be pretty obvious that our 'moderators' next step - of members only posters - being allowed to post only what the current Chief of the Mudcat Editing Team has first personally vetted and approved of, before he allows it on to our forum - is not very much to my liking. And that I (and others posters) would have been very unlikely to be attracted by a forum containing all this anonymous interference, restriction and judgement. So it must be pretty obvious that our forum - that I and others posters found on Max's site - was a rather different one to the one posters see now (and largely accept as it always being).

What you refer to as the 'powers that be' were then only my fellow posters - not as you now see - my judge, jury and lynching party.

Again, I am not knocking your opinion nor do am I attacking you - I do see your points more clearly, but it is obvious that the powers that be aren't going to change.   Could you expain to our forum why you continue?

Things change - and it is right that they do - but my view is that there is never any need to be seen to carelessly throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I just try post my views to encourage and take part in discussion - as I always have and I will always try to. In the process of this debate, there is the hope that a little bit more of our precious freedoms - will not be as thoughtlessly curtailed as they might have been. There is some evidence to support this view.

Ron - that is the simple answer to your question. Perhaps the question you need to be asking is why it is thought necessary to make such a fuss in order to try to encourage so many different ways to prevent me and other posters from continuing?

With all due respect - perhaps you will accept that 'the problem' is not me or any other individual poster - no matter what posters may be currently encouraged to accept. Perhaps we can now go back to discussing the issue of closed threads and deleted posts?