I think Premex's problem was that Oz kept posting and reposting inaccurate information, so Premex as an altruist felt it his duty to keep pointing this out so that other perhaps less seasoned flyertalkers wouldn't be misled. He would, I believe, say you can't simply ignore or walk away from errors when this board's life-blood is sharing accurate information and experiences.

When you're dealing with someone who has an almost pathological need to be accepted, admired, never considered to be wrong, etc, as Oz obviously does, the predictable result is that the pathological person will eventually turn round and start grossly abusive and insulting name-calling in their frustration at being consistently shown up as less-than-perfect. And that kind of name-calling can really hurt, however much you try to rise above its childishness. When you add in e-mails received in quantity, all containing shouting and abuse, plastered with bold capitals and exclamation marks, in your own personal e-mailbox, that can be the end. There seems to be no escape from the abuse, even in your own home. I can sympathise with Premex's decision to withdraw.

To my way of thinking, we could do without regular moderators, if there was some way of consigning the name-calling posts to another place - Hot Debate Room, Sin Bin, or whatever you want to call it. It would simply need the injured person to notify Randy or A.N. Other that it had taken place. Then the thread could be scrutinised and the offending post(s) removed (assuming FT does have the technology to do that) and placed elsewhere, leaving the remainder of the thread intact. To that limited extent, I go along with svpii. It still wouldn't deal with the e-mails received at home, though.

By the way, isn't it great to have clear and intelligent discussions, unencumbered by outbursts from the aforementioned temporarily-banned person... The board is so peaceful in comparison with its recent state.

[This message has been edited by 1P (edited 03-07-2001).]