A very reasonable person typed:
Targeted/selected moderation is a little too much like censorship.
I totally respect the good intentions behind this belief. (Really! That's one reason I suggested an alternative.) But, I think you've fallen into a trap that is very common today: good intentions are no substitute for clear-headed analysis. Allowing the boorish behavior of one guest (made worse by those who fan the flames) is de facto a choice to lower the value of the list for many, many others. As Doug pointed out, we are ALL guests here. It's not censorship to insist on abiding by rules that keep this a pleasant community. And, unlike 20 years ago, there are lots and lots of other places where bb can go to find or create an electronic community where he fits in. ... Even if you can't help but think of banning (or moderating) bb as censorship, it's no different than forbidding posts that are clearly spam (a litany of subjects that I won't mention so as not to get caught by a spam filter). The list is already "censored"; the only question is what's signal and what's noise. I think it's clear that lots of people consider bb to have an unacceptably high level of noise. -- Cheers, Scott S. Lawton http://Classicosm.com/ - classic books http://ProductArchitect.com/ - consulting