JeffS, I apologize for have been unclear. What I am trying to say is that during the course of moderating, particularly when moving threads (which would appear to have been the primary role of moderators, heretofore), that I would like to see moderators act in a more friendly, welcoming and enabling manner. It should always, IMHO, be assumed (by moderators and general members alike) that the misposter made an honest mistake and movement of their posts to a more appropriate position should be done as gently and informatively as possible. There have been times when the movement and the comments surrounding it, especially from the general membership, have appeared accusatory and almost punitive. That is, IMHO, unacceptable behavior for either moderators or general members.

The three tasks I listed above:

1. Welcoming and supporting (assisting) new members;
2. Preventing (derailing) abuse; and
3. Shepherding posts into the right field.

are not of my making, but are a summary of the guidelines and rules for moderators, taken in their entirety.

My primary concern is that I think it is inappropriate for moderators to close down valuable discussions, just because one or two flamers attack a thread. I would far prefer to see the flaming posts removed, allowing the valuable discussion to continue.

To my knowledge, this method of moderation has not been exercised on FT. Of course, it is entirely possible that it has been implemented so successfully that it was invisible, and if that is the case, I heartily congratulate the Moderators for their very skillful work. Unfortunately, the only Moderation method I have observed on FT is the locking down or removing of entire threads, which IMHO, places too much power into the hands of the disruptive posters.

Does anyone have any feeling on this particular issue?