i agree with bruce. a great example of a thread that actually was a serious debate about a very gray area in the rules on CC was about offensive avatars, and how they are deemed offensive, etc:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=59020as soon as the mods had to admit that they had made a very obvious error in judgement, thanks to andy looking at it all, and it was cleared up that concerns were taken to the wrong place, and it was explained how the process works, it was locked! why? a few stragglers, late to the debate, started going off topic around page 18, and it was locked a few posts later. heaven forbid anyone see that members dared to stand up to a poor decision by questioning the decision, and prevailing. reminds me of the days of when wicked ran loose in the forums, and would move and/or lock threads in the middle of the night, while the GD was sleeping. if you questioned a ruling she made or you proved her wrong, the thread was dead. a nice example, the babysitting thread:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=49899&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=babysitting+issuesin that thread, a mod declares some unwritten rule as the basis for an incorrect ruling, that everyone railed against, and it took twill stepping in to clarify things, and we are still awaiting a new rule to cover the issue. anyway, it just seems that when something of merit hits the GD, and people take on rules/rulings with rational and calm argument, and they happen to prevail, the threads are dead in the water. i don't care about the multitude of threads locked for flaming, especially paradicecity9's open flame thread concerning me in the GD which i have learned is not a 3 day ban as i had been told it was in the past.... i care about the threads that help to make CC a better place, by questioning why things are how they are.
and as far as scottland's suggestion to just start banning people left and right to keep control of the GD, using myself as an example, is SOMEWHAT ridiculous. often times, mods are off base or behind on what is going on. for instance, there are many inside jokes flying around the GD that often receive official or friendly warnings, because a new mod is unaware of the GD's history. a fortunate few of the new mods actually ask members that spend time in the GD to help them determine if something is truly an offense or if it is a joke they are unaware of. however, if you ban people that are truly breaking rules and causing general mayhem, i see no problem with that. i think scottland chose a poor example when he named me as an offender of note. i for one knew the exact moment i was going to receive my latest ban, and this is my first post in about 2 weeks due to the situation. what did the mods accomplish? they lost a member that reports multi's, flames, off topic posts, etc, and gained a slew of "PAT MYSELF ON THE BACK" and "LIST" posts... the GD is becoming overly sanitized, and a much less fun place for it.
apparently, i am what is wrong with the GD, so i have chosen to not spend my time where i am not wanted...-0