closure on off topic, and objectivity in moderators.

I would have liked to have read urleebird's posts in that thread. I've seen many of his contributions in the past, and when a topic gets heated, his replies tend to become more and more offensive, what with the underlined and BOLDED type he often employs. Seeing as how he edited out all of his posts and judging by the whispers of indecency, I'll assume he played a pivotal role in that thread's deterioration. The leftovers were pretty tame, after all.

Like I said earlier, I see no point in taking part in a discussions like that. Firmly-held beliefs about politics and religion are not influenced by a few paragraphs from another person; they're simply inflamed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blade Wielder

I remember when that Second Amendment topic was posted. I was probably one of the first to read the author's initial thoughts, but I chose not to participate in the thread early on because, as garbled as the starting post was, I could sense that even if a discussion got going, it would quickly deteriorate. And now that I've taken a few minutes to read the thread (or what's been left by censors, at least), I can see that's exactly what happened. Discussions about such deep-seated beliefs never go anywhere and I find them very tiring.

That said, I see no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to take place -- regardless of how heated the discussion gets. Throughout this "Objectivity" thread I've noticed that some people seem to think this community should be a familial haunt, where we can all talk like "gentleman" about gentlemanly things, like smoking cigars, drinking scotch, shooting guns, shaving, and waxing our moustaches. And I think those things are all well and good, but when a normal religious/political debate (age-old topics gentleman are known to discuss) arises, it shouldn't have to be broken up like a high school kegger.

Of all the people in that thread, I think Joe Lerch made the most sense. His arguments were logical and, from what I saw (keeping in mind that what's left of that thread seems to be a watered-down version of what it was, seeing as how two members high-tailed it out of here and I think the current thread is too tame to warrant such a reaction), didn't cross the line. I also read that urleebird flew the coop, and yet he doesn't have a post in that thread. I also heard that he had been editing his posts, so...

Anyway, I clearly I got here too late. I wish I could have been here to watch it all unfold, but even though I wasn't, I'm going to conclude that everyone is overreacting.

Too bad that you didn,t Mr Lechs`s last post that caused Bill`s out burst,as a moderator of this great site it certainly was in my opinion very unprofessional .As far as I know Bill asked that his threads to be pulled because someone was going in and editing them on his behalf without his knowledge.
It is quite obvious that by your post, Bill is not on your Christmas shopping list fair enough ,I might not agree with every thing he says and the opinions he has either, but I certainly respect his right to those opinions.
I find it rather undesirable that you admit you hadn`t read the forum in its entirety but can still cast blame . Your are obviously happy that Bill has gone,I for one am not ,look around this forum and see how many he has helped,given advice freely ,unselfishly building a razor only to give it away in a raffle ,and on closing ,where I come from bagging someone publicly when they have no chance of reply is very bad form
Regards Peter

Actually, no; I'd rather Bill had stuck around. He was opinionated at times, but so what? Plus, he makes cool razors.

Like I said, I'm sure urleebird stoked the fire a bit himself, but if he was having his posts edited without his consent, I can totally understand his anger. If there's one thing I hate, it's being censored.

I've debated with Joe Lerch in the past. He's opinionated too. I was just unaware that any of his posts had been edited out, though. I thought urleebird's were the only ones to go. Sounds like Joe really acted up!

Oh, and I see nothing wrong with a moderator expressing his opinions on a forum. It's when he starts abusing his moderating powers that things get bad.