Sure is funny how one word added to an otherwise innocuous post can make it reportable/warnable/ etc. But it was always the case that things like that were the domain of the Pit, while being reasonable was the realm of General Questions or Great Debates. This is why I spend so much time IN the Pit; like it used to say in the main list of forums about that one: “If you got to flame, do it here.” If we have to be nice there NOW, then I agree with other posters who have said elsewhere this forum is now much less important. I am also not happy about that. I think we NEED a place to segregate nastiness, like Nevada has gambling and prostitution.
The remark that sparked this thread was over the top, nasty, insulting, and yes, possibly abusive. And as the reporting poster Alan Smithee said, he only reported it because he got confused about what forum he was looking at. If I would tell some random stranger who used the verbal equivalent of :smack: or :rolleyes: to express contempt for my opinion to their face to go f— him/herself, why can’t I do it here?
People are throwing the word dictator around in connection to this, but there is another Latin-root word more relevant to what is going on here: censorship, for a censor is:
" 1. A person authorized to examine books, films, or other material and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable."