Quote Originally Posted by Stigmata
"Moderators" have the right and obligation to express themselves?
Am I nuts, or what? They have neither the right nor the obligation to express their personal bias... and that what opinion is, isn't it?

It seems to me that a "moderator" ought to ensure neutality and fairness in a debate or dialogue...and would be loathe to reveal his personal bias, as it would be a fault in a moderator.
If you participate in a lot of forums you already know that threads get closed for many reasons, but most commonly for rule infractions or lack of good common sense in the conduct department.

We haven't had the need to close more than a handful here. Basically the site has pretty much been self-moderating... our membership showing good judgment and basically policing themselves. I would hope that continues, because that is one of the things that differentiates us from other sites.

The 2nd Amend thread was closed because several participants (both members and moderators) demonstrated lack of appropriate conduct. Posts became increasingly mean spirited and showed basic disrespect and courtesy. I think most members would agree there's no place for that in a public forum such as ours. Attempts to get things calmed down via off-line channels were being ignored by the participants... and so the thread was closed. It's unfortunate that such action was necessary since a few participants effectively ruined the thread for everyone. But life is like that sometimes.

Stigmata, perhaps you're expressing your feelings about "moderators" based on ideas and experiences you've had on other sites. But here the culture is that moderators have the right to express themselves and participate... they're members like everyone else in that regard. The unfortunate incident in the 2nd Amendment thread was that some Moderators didn't take the high road in the discussion and let their emotions get out of control. We're only human, but as such we have to bear the consequences of our actions.

Moderators are purely voluntary at SRP and are primarily chartered with assisting others where possible, stimulating discussion, etc. Several Moderators are assigned to specific groups... most float amongst all the groups. And except for a few and minor instances, they have never had to quell unruly behavior until yesterday.

I would hope that you allow yourself the opportunity to observe the culture here for a while before you decide to tell us how things should be done... you may discover they don't really need to be changed.