"This is not a democracy."

But that doesn't mean the forum should submit to a dictatorship, does it?

What this forum needs is to be run democratically and fairly. It has nothing to do with "ownership" in the capitalist sense.

There are many good models for running forums democratically. Lots of information is available on the internet for how to do it, and do it well. I've even posted links to some of them in the past.

A large part of the problem here is people acquiesing to bullying by Max and his management team, because their fear Max's retribution. Their biggest fear being that Max will pull the plug.

Max has been offered money, grant writing assistance, help from forum members on programming, help from forum members on administration and moderation of the forum. People here have tried to be very patient and generous, understanding of the limits of his time and resources to keep the place afloat.

So when I open a thread like this one, and see that the site owner has started a flame war thread against a poster that has been critical of the site's management, it isn't Shambles I think poorly of, but the owner.