It's too bad that the thread was kicked off by the now banned flamer. Because it disguised/distracted from the real point. I'd like to see this thread explore the things that Halx is talking about.
While I agree with Roachboy to a point - this is more polite than any politics forum, ever - and friction creates some positive outcomes - there is surely behavior that makes me nuts.
If we are driving down the road, and Halx's goal is to keep us on road, the moderators provide course correction at the edges. My guess is that course correction is VERY hard and has to be applied with great vim. Because this is TFP, it shouldn't be so hard for the moderators. WE make it too hard, and that, perhaps, has consequences on the rest of the board.
Perhaps the goal is to police ourselves better, so that the mods can apply the light touch they apply elsewhere?
For myself, the thing that makes me nutty is people responding to a particular detail in someone's post that they CAN make a rebuttal to, and not responding to the actual point of that post. God forbid we actually say: great point - I can't respond to that because you are right.
I'm sure there are lots of other things, and I'm guessing I have guilt too
But just to throw something out there...
thx for having us in your house, Halx