Rox, Nancy, others-

Why should there be reluctance to voice your opinion on thread moderation? The persons here untrusted with Sysop responsibilities are charged with the duty of taking appropriate action to keep the nature of this place desirable. Since that is a pretty subjective area, it will do the Sysops, and everybody else here a lot of good to know what the general concensus is concerning thread moderation. If one of us at some time decides to take action, it will help us to know that the situation falls in line with the general population's opinion of situations that should be acted upon. There have been lots of messages here that I would have deleted if it were my personal bulletin board, but I did not, because of the strong sentiment that has been expressed against such actions.

Notice here that I never used the word 'censorship'. This is because I think that the word is entirely overused. As an American, one of my most valued rights is my right to express ideas, however radical. This freedom of speech protects me legally from those wielding power that don't agree or are even offended by my expressions. The following types of speech, however, are NOT protected, and rightfully so:

I am going to kill you.
Tasty Burger makes food out of rat meat.
I am going to hurt the president.
I have a bomb.
Your Honor, you're a stupid idiot.

Some of these sort of statements fall under the category of threats, and some fall under another category whose offenses hurt the general state of order in a country. I am not saying that anyone here is guilty of statements like the above, only pointing out that there is a difference between censorship and outlawing harmful statements. I know that the line between the two can get thin, and that's where judgment comes in.

It's also where the public opinion counts. I am truly saddened to see that there are those here that are ashamed to point new VFP programmers to this messageboard because of the inappropriate content. To be honest, I agree with that sentiment. There have been moments where I have considered throwing in the towel myself, because I feel I am too old for this (high-school students are too old for this).

The power to stop a thread or delete a message should be used very discriminately. But it should be used, IMO, before a community begins to fall apart because of a message, thread, or series of threads. I will never use it, and I suspect my fellow sysops will never use it, without public support.