OK - serious conversation here.
We want to encourage conversation.
We could have started banning people. But what good would that do in reality. The banned person could just create a new login and carry on.
We could have made them read-only, so they couldn't post. See point above for how well that could work.
If we see something written by someone that we think is against our advice, we will PM them.
We do NOT want personal abuse - and we try and take the gentle touch to dissuade people when we see it (I don't read every post in every forum, so I may miss some). Most people don't realise they may have gone too far.
There are one or two that do take things too far and don't react well to being asked not to do so. We are still working out how to deal with that (this is a new site - and we want to get it right). I think you will see some changes coming soon - maybe good, maybe not.
So, has it gone too far? I don't think so - but it's getting very close. To me, putting people down, insulting them (even indirectly) and generally being negative about people is not what we are here for and the sooner people realise this, the better. Alternative opinions should be respected, not mocked.
If you don't like what I have said (any of you), you are free to leave. You are free to argue against the concepts above. You are NOT free to argue that my viewpoint is wrong and that I am in any way a worse person because of it.
