I recently deleted the "Land Of The Not So Free" thread. I deleted it not because of the subject matter about House Bill HR 5204, but because of the call to take a position on the legislation AND because the discussion got off topic (like so many others) AND because some folks used the thread just to complain about how this Forum is run and moderated.

Brian and Gene have said it well. Though this Forum is open to the public, it is not a "public forum", it's a private forum that we pay for. Access is free and open; however, we have established guidelines and standards and Gene and Terry do a terrific job of trying to enforce those standards without squelching open discussion. There is certainly a fine line, and it is difficult to moderate a Forum that is open to everyone. We are actually much more lenient on some things than other Forums, but we are also more strict in other areas.  It works and we've only had to ban one or two people in the eight years this Forum has been open. 

Clearly, some of you have not read our "Guidelines And Suggestions" or you choose to ignore them and then complain when we try to enforce them. Most, not all but most, of our deletions are because a post or a portion of a post has absolutely nothing to do with the original topic OR someone hi-jacks the thread to start a related, but different, discussion. The quality of the Forum is diluted when people are trying to find information and have to trudge through irrelevant posts.

We do try to stay away from politics and religion here, and again there is a fine line and it's a judgment call.  For what it's worth, we have no problem with "Thank You and God Bless" as a sign-off or in a signature line.  And we're more tolerant of general government/tax comments, but we don't allow political party or individual politician comments or assumptions that we are all in the same religious or political camp. People are going to disagree with our judgment calls from time to time, but we're still going to make them as we see fit.   

And yes, we do have a higher standard regarding tone and respect. If you haven't read the thread entitled "Welcome! We Do Things A Little Differently Here", I would invite you to read it.  Here's an excerpt:

Here, we don't tolerate the rudeness and snarkiness that is allowed in other forums.  And though we encourage differences in ideas and opinions, we try to make sure those differences are expressed in ways that are diplomatic and respectful of each other.  We all have natural reactions and judgments about things we see and read, and we all come from very diverse backgrounds with diverse values.  So, what we ask of our members is simply to be polite, positive, and thoughtful in the way views are expressed and to keep judgments that add no value out of the conversation.

To be sure, we understand there is a level of over-sensitivity in our society, and there are people that are offended by everything.  But we promote this Forum as a safe place, and while we can't expect to keep every person from ever being offended, we can do a lot better than several of the other forums out there, and our goal is simply to be the best AND friendliest RV Forum on the web.

Thanks for coming and for helping us continue to strive for that goal. 

P.S.  If you don't think you can adhere to our higher standards, we'd prefer you just view the Forum and not become a member.  If you do become a member and expect to behave in a way we don't condone, understand that we may send you a gentle reminder, or we may ask you to leave, or we may just delete your account without notice. 

Now, I won't be deleting this thread, but I am closing it.  If you want to comment on this post, feel free to send me a private message.