Hear, hear! Mr Shaw.

And there I am trying to stay out of this after the ruthless extermination of what was shaping up to be a very nice thread as well. What I find deeply offensive around here is the predominating pastoral paternalism from the Mods. I come to Mudcat for the low-life rough and tumble, not to hob-nob with the glitterati, much less the elite 'Old Timers', whoever the fuck they might be.

People leave Mudcat not because of the rites & riots, rather because of the prissy policing policies. Why they come is surely more important - or the fact they are here at all... Me, I come here for the general Crack (note spelling, folksy theme pub habitues) which is more than canny most of the time, though I'm aware the nuances will be mostly lost on such literalists that make a career of taking personal offense where none is ever intended, or else passing a more serious judgement (I suspect this thread has nothing to do with April 1st - I so hope I'm wrong, you chaps!) than you'll find in the most - er - spirited tête-à-tête, such as provoked The Inquisition to slash the Creationism thread.

For shame! I cry. For mercy too, and for pity's sake, give it a break!