Cute, botg. I'm talking about mods and admins who participate under usernames other than their own. Most of the people in the above list are too busy to respond to every day problems and concerns. On other sites I've visited, there's a place on the Home Page where mods and admins who are responsible for watching the site at any particular point in time are plainly identified. Some of us who are here a lot know who some of these people are. But not everyone does. Problems are more easily solved when someone who's paying particular attention can be contacted quickly. As I said, I don't know the moderating structure. This may not be possible according to current policies and procedures. It's just a suggestion.

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of the tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. - Ayn Rand

shawn: Of course, you are correct. But this isn't about Open Threads and whether any topic should be disallowed. What this is about is the public stoning of "suspicious" members. And whether or not such suspicions are valid or not is not the issue either. If I come here for the first time, I'm going to be a bit put off by the sort of things that often take place in the Open Thread. Most respectable websites conduct their discussions about trolls and other such suspicious persons among admins and mods. Sure, go ahead and call someone out. But if there is serious concern about someone, admins and mods should be contacting these people via e-mail or pm to issue warnings if necessary and taking swift action once it has been determined that an account should be suspended or closed. It appears there are no specific standards. And without specific direction as to who to contact at any given time re: inappropriate content, plenty of such trash is left to rot in plain view for hours at a time.

I know that the powers-that-be see things differently. I'm just trying to present the perspective of someone who might be a new member and/or someone who would like to present opposing views. But maybe I'm just a bit too "conservative". :)

Edited to add:  On second thought, since shawn brought up the topic of the Open Thread per se:

I posted my topic mostly in response to the banning of PopTech and the attendant gossip session that ensued. I accept the reasoning, although I feel the standards aren't applied fairly. Not to mention the taunting that amounts to nothing more than bullying. I feel the Open Thread should be just that. Open for discussion. But who can get a serious point in edgewise when the thread is cluttered up with chatter, troll bashing, and lengthy expose's and manifestos. If I came to the site for the first time, I certainly wouldn't spend much time reading the Open Thread before I came to the conclusion that my opinions would be lost in the debris. Lengthy posts and frivolous banter should be directed to the Forum. I don't mind a few one-liners and jokes here and there. But when the Open Thread becomes nothing more than someone's personal blog, the "discussion" should be directed elsewhere. This could also be applied to discussions deemed worthy to be sent to the Woodshed. Other sites use the capability for an admin or moderator to physically move topics and comments to somewhere else on the site. This is usually done with a note posted in the original post that the topic has been moved. So it's not a matter of just censoring or deleting someone's posts. Heck, I didn't even pay any attention the Forum until I'd been here for about 2 years. Posting links to the Forum from threads that need to be moved would be a way to let others know about it.

These are just suggestions that I hope the management would take into consideration.

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of the tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. - Ayn Rand