Nice try, Miz, but no catacomb hammer for that!
I appreciate that others may feel as Miz does: that we wield the Mallet of Loving Correction [1] a bit too freely. (And I know for certain that some folks feel that way primarily about me specifically.) Occasionally, a post falls within the nebulous threshold. Perhaps one person might feel it clearly violates the guidelines, someone else thinks it presents no issues whatsoever, and a third person might feel uncertain. By its very nature, forum moderation brings up all sorts of issues of fairness and objectivity/subjectivity.
And, like most everyone else here, I've spent countless hours with an unhealthy obsession on Internet fora, where the general culture allows
much looser and free-flowing discussion. On other sites I frequent, or have frequented in the past, Laerise's post could serve as a shining example of (relative) restraint.
None of those sites are Backstage, for better or for worse.
Were I to tell Laerise that she cannot suggest in any way that, say, "membership" within a "bloc" might not be viewed by everyone in the same manner, I'd clearly have overstepped the bounds, both of my privileges here and general etiquette overall. Were I to tell Miz that opinions on moderation, including those that disagree with mine, cannot be expressed, I'd have overstepped them to the degree that Silver would almost certainly (and rightly) remove me from the staff.
The FAQ actually contemplates this precise issue.
Q: Isn't all this subjective?
A: Yes. The Mods do their best to be fair, but inevitably, this is a subjective standard. Another thing for you to Deal With.
While I certainly respect your feelings on the matter, please take just a moment to think about it from the perspective of a moderator charged with maintaining "a place to exchange ideas and share information.... for positive, polite debate... for discussion, not arguments."
As noted, situations like this one will "inevitably" arise. Reasonable people can disagree on where to draw the line. This is, unfortunately, one of those situations.
Now to go put my daughter in bed.
[1]: With apologies to John Scalzi.
