No, not IMO. Some may be duplicative, but many are variations on the theme. No harm, no foul. OMNI mods should not be in the business of locking down "similar" but not identical threads.

As always Cactuspete, thank you for your input in Omni moderation.

Then explain how you think that is OK to call us gestapo.

IMO, the general use of the word "gestapo" would indicate an internal police force known for overly-aggressive tactics against those suspected of not conforming to their beliefs. I think you can make the leap from there.

Really, well here is a definition o Gestapo

Gestapo
Acronym in German for Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police). The Nazis established the Gestapo in order to monitor and stamp out any political opposition to the Hitler regime. Under Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo's powers became brutal and far-reaching in ferreting out Jews, Marxists, and even moderate critics of the regime.

I don't care how you use it, you have no right in calling us that.

Exactly!

Say, isn't the gestapo a right-wing organisation? How can that be consistent with the OMNI moderators' well-known left-wing conspiracy? You know, the one that makes them biased against all things right-wing?

FewMiles..

Good for you. You found a definition that suits your agenda. I'll stick by mine, since that is what I intended. YMMV.

If the shoe fits, ... IMO. I still get one, don't I?

But in any event, thanks for the opportunity for a reasonably intelligent discussion on the issue. That's much more than some of your fellow moderators allow.

This is definitely going nowhere, but humor me, other than your own personal definition, show me one in the internet, feel free to google, where one wouldn't be offended by being called that.

You are entitled to your opinion, however, you are not entitled to call people names.

Shoe doesn't fit, I am very much Mexican, and could never be confused with a member of the gestapo

And I will leave it at that.

I do not know why the OMNI moderators should be offended.

Isn�t it a compliment to be called something that is nice, sweet and refreshing?

After all, the definition of gestapo is an Italian ice cream or ice.

No, wait a minute � that is gelato, not gestapo...

...never mind...

I've always thought of my FT persona as more like Sgt Schultz than Maj. Hochstetter. I guess that's a step up, right?

YMMV.

Well, since Nazism is National Socialism it actually becomes clear!

If you look carefully at the time codes above, the "The Anonymous Negative Reputation Thread" thread was closed down immediately AFTER my post in this thread. Up until that point it was perfectly fine with the 2 mods who were active on the board.

Yes it was silly. So was wingless's thread. So are 95% of threads on OMNI for that matter.

It was IMHO unbalanced moderation. If this "reputation" feature is part of FT, I fail to see why folks are not able to discuss it in OMNI - especially in a light hearted way.

Our signature on FT, or our handle or post count, or slowness of search, or any other feature are and have been fair game for all the years I have been here.

The OMNI mods appear to be oddly sensitive to any reference to this "reputation" feature being analysed in THAT forum. Why?

I personally feel calling Moderators "gestapo" is not polite. However on the flipside, playing the devil's advocate a little here, I notice that ScottC was perfectly comfortable with calling BA airline staff "gestapo" so that term is not unacceptable to all of us it seems.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...hlight=gestapo

Moderators aren't required to (and often don't) read every post/thread on their respective forum.

If Scott noticed the other thread after you pointed it out, then you did your good deed for the day.

skofarrell. I accept that Moderators are not reading their boards at all times. Far from it.

HOWEVER in the time frame this thread was left unlocked (and wingless was locked down) all THREE of you Mods were on OMNI, and happily posting away. So presumably you all had ample time to look at the other threads on page one?

You have all decided for some curious reason to ban all comments in OMNI re these silly "reputation" points (and only Randy can advise if that course is suitable or not) - my comments simply request ya'll be CONSISTENT about banning all such comment there. Which you clearly were not.

cactuspete by his comments above seem to have stirred you all up which (co-incidentally? ) caused some of his later comments on OMNI to be edited by ScottC - and had you personally threaten him with "the suspension of your FT account".

'Payback' for the above perhaps???? Your image above of Sergeant Schultz does spring immediately to my mind for some reason.

This is my own observation, and I stress I have had no communication whatever with cactuspete on this, but several others have pointed your actions out in this matter and I was advised the comments removed were of a VERY mild nature by OMNI standards:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=314797

The FIRST post in the thread referred to the "moron in the White House" - yet none of you saw any problem with that or warned that poster about that having nothing to do with thread topic (Australian aboriginals) or threatened to suspend that person from FT.

I personally find someone American calling the US President a 'moron' on a travel bulletin board is equally as tasteless as calling Moderators gestapo. And even-handed Moderation would ensure civility breaches like that were corrected too IMO.

There is a difference between calling a politician (who is a public figure) a moron and calling your fellow posters gestapo. In the latter case, that equates to me calling you an ******* (insert expletive of your choice) -- it's simply not acceptable.

FewMiles..