But let's be real. THe civilized users are not AFAIK defending their lives, their families, their reputations, or their livelihoods when they respond to a flame war, except only as reputation is attached to their FT handle. This is a bulletin board and not a battlefield
Law Lord, I think you've hit it spot on. We aren't exactly foraging around in the wilderness trying to establish a civilization while scrounging for sustenance here, and the only things in need of protection in this "community", I dare say, are a few fragile egos.
That's why this whole thing seems a bit melodramatic, in Moose's opinion, and talk of "leadership" seems completely absurd. Do we really need
leaders to show us how to share travel information with other posters? After all, the site host's refusal to be dragged into all this melodrama would tend to indicate that all he meant FlyerTalk to be is a source of mileage and hotel point tips, with the occasional odd bit of travel talk thrown in. Heaven forbid it should turn back into that!