Lawrence,
As my 9000th post, I wanted to write something more fitting than this but as I look at what has happened, What I have read in the different threads and what I know from outside of this site, means something to many people and goes right to an issue that is important to me about a specific part of what happened, so as a rhetorical question I wonder if it was so cut and dry of a subject that it has to be discussed and we are told it is finished but then why is it popping up as a subject so many times?
When you make a point that the mods are volunteers, and they work hard, it matters and I do agree with you 100%, most of them are some of the best restrained and consistent mods I have seen anywhere, hence my 9000 posts.
But I don't agree with your position "who work very hard at making this community worth peoples time to discuss their business concerns."
See Lawrence, it is you and Dale that set the tone of the site, it is the mods who watch over the site to keep consistency with what you set but it is the people, the members who make it worth while it to be attractive to outsiders and it is the members who are important above the Mods and in many ways sponsors and especially employees of companies.
I know you agree with me when I say this site is not just a forum but a community. The members make up the community and this community has its people who come from different backgrounds and different experiences. Whether we speak of business or hobbies or ethics, that doesn't matter because the members will find their own path for subjects, if it is not important, it won't get any response but if it matters than it will have a lot of response. What matters more is to allow members to speak their mind and not try to guide the subject. In this case, many do not agree with the idea of having someone in the shadows of what is normally an open place to speak and than be told to talk about business or that it is not a big deal.
With any dialog that goes on, there has to be some tolerance with the people and the subjects but also equally a concern when things pop up like this issue so many times.
For what it's worth I am not talking from just casual experience as a forum member but more from knowing how one makes a forum work with and for its members.
There for my fan club 9000 posts - are you happy?