There are, nevertheless, reasons why I'm having a problem with this:
- the moderator was not on the public list of moderators for that subforum. While I'm sure this was an oversight rather than intentional, it still formally constitutes a precedent of secret policing and as such leaves an uneasy feeling
- it constitutes an act of collective punishment: the thread had picked up rapidly in both views and constructive contributions, demonstrating that the debate was one desired by many who, so far, can not continue it due to the behaviour of a few, or one, being questioned
- now I'm not here for a year even, but at least in this reduced period of time, I've not come across any instance of moderation of this severity, or any instance of moderation - other than dialog - at all for that matter, whereas I believe to have seen a fair number of samples of a similar degree of 'heated ranting'. We could agree to all being adults with a certain exposure to Rock&Roll culture and hence a sufficiently thick skin to endure minor nonsense and idiocy without further protection. But if indeed there is a problematic behaviour, it would seem logical to openly address it rather than waiting it out.