How much control does the OP in a GD thread have on the direction of the thread?

[Czarcasm]

@Polerius

B) In this thread the OP asks

Then, a bunch of posts follow, none of which attempt to answer the question. The OP gets frustrated with the off-topic answers, and gets petulant and junior-modish "For the third effin’ time, take the anti-Palin crap elsewhere, damn it! If you’ve got nothing, POST NOTHING. "

After a while, tomndebb gives a warning, not to the OP, but to the posters who are not sticking to the topic in the OP.

@tomndebb

TWEEEET!

This thread was an attempt to solicit genuine evidence against the standard SDMB theme that Ms. Palin is stupid or incompetent. To that end, posts that are serious efforts to dispute claims for her qualities are legitimate; posts that are simply snide or silly are not.

Stick to the OP. One may, of course, disagree with any presented evidence, (this is the debate forum), but for the rest of this thread, leave the jokes and silly stuff out.

[ /Moderating ]

It’s clear that the warnings in the above two cases are different, so may not be 100% comparable, but they do share one thing in common: They deal with an attempt by the OP to steer the conversation towards a certain topic or certain type (e.g. no joke replies). In the first case, tomndebb seems to not concern himself with the OP’s complaint about the direction of the thread, in the latter he does seem concerned with it.
So, what’s the overall conclusion: How much control does the OP in a GD thread have on the direction of the thread? (in terms of participants, content, and or type of content, e.g. joke responses)

I think you forgot to mention that later on said moderator did admonish me(and rightfully so) for blowing my top.