Let’s not get crazy now. 
Ed, I emailed one of the mods earlier this evening, venting my frustrations over the past few days. You couldn’t have seen that email when you wrote this, but this post followed exactly along the lines of what I suggested needed to happen. Either you’re telepathic or I’m clairvoyant. 
I think you’ve hit the right tone for the way you and the Board reps need to present yourselves and I think you see that the response has been just as civil and evenhanded as you have wished. That’s as it should be, but hasn’t been.
I hope everybody keeps it up. Just remember, the tone that’s set from the top will percolate down through the entire Board. Cecil’s snark set the tone for the Board in the beginning. And as it was in the beginning, so shall it be now. Any testiness, shortness, lack of communication, dismissiveness, or anger will be cast back at you a thousandfold. Yep, that’s a burden that I wouldn’t want. Maybe you can sublimate it into a snarky book for your next project.
Thank you, Ed.
I’m glad you got angry and frustrated enough to call people on their constant carping.
I’m even happier that you had the courage to take a step back.
Both things needed doing–sometimes it takes getting angry and over reacting to get people’s attention.
And my apologies (and I suspect those of many other quiet readers and posters) for not coming to Jerry’s defense. I’ve thought about it many times but never posted anything because I didn’t want to get into fights/disagreements with the prolific posters who seemed so dissatisfied.
Good show Ed.
Thank you for reconsidering, Ed.
Actually, I would have gladly looked on at some bannings of people who have been attacking **Jerry **personally over the past week or so… some of those made my blood nearly boil. But, basically, you shot a (somewhat intrusive) bystander… And have now taken the right step of admitting you were probably wrong. Thank you. As I said in the pit thread, I respect you immensely as a stand-up guy, who normally prevails by being fair and reasonable. You have gone a long way towards restoring that respect
Thanks, Ed. I missed whatever the hoopla was, but I’ve been on other boards where something or another flared up and been disappointed by the response of the administrators, but your response looks like the type I would have been very happy with, had I been in the heat of whatever went on.
While I didn’t think there was much effort in updating us on the delay of the server upgrade this summer (and it created an awkward roulette situation with renewing paid subscriptions), once the upgrade came online there was good feedback about how it was going. And I can’t imagine why people would object to the new forum related to the book. Anyway it seems to me things are back on track and you made a good response. Thanks.
I also appreciate the reconsidering of the bans. I believe that a member with 22,000 posts should only be banned after a long period of warnings. I know I’ve made a few bad posts here and there.
Yeah, I’ve had bad days too. I work in the brokerage industry and this year has been hell. I wish I had a few days back too. So, I can understand.
Thank you Ed. We all have our bad days, and it takes guts to realize when we’ve perhaps gone overboard. I’m glad to hear you’re on top of things.
Thanks to Jerry too. I dont know shit about MB software, but I’m sure it’s hard and thankless work. Keep on keepin’ on.
I don’t visit the board every day, and today seeing the aftermath of these latest troubles saddened me. But – well done to you, Ed, and to Jerry and to the rest of the team doing the best you all can under trying circumstances.
As others have said – we all have bad days. Bad weeks, months, sometimes years, even. This is still a good place though, with lots of promise and great people.
Please know that you have my support.
Thank you, Ed. Part of the reason for the volume and passion of the response that is given by Dopers is, by and large, because we *care *about the Dope. We want only good things for it. It’s not the sort of place that…what do you Yanks say…produces ‘meh’ feelings. So when our cradle is rocked, we’ll throw a hissy fit; some violently, some not so violently. The only thing we do here is communicate with each other. That’s all the Dope is here for, and many people are going to feel proprietorial - despite knowing deep down that it is a commercial enterprise.
So your your reasoned response to the recent trainwrecks is much appreciated.
Phew. I really thought this was it; that the board would go down in a ball of fire. Great to see I was wrong.
Yeah, we’ve had some close calls over the last year or so.
Thanks, Ed.
Thank you!
There are precious few things and places in this world that I enjoy so thoroughly as hanging around this place…
Many thanks to Ed, Jerry and the rest of the staff for your continued professionalism.
Thank you for your apology. It takes a big man to admit he was wrong. 
I have never criticised Jerry (and having been a programmer I won’t in future either.)
But I think it is a real shame that the SDMB management doesn’t give Jerry the resources he needs. 
He is left dangling as the ‘face’ of the management, because he’s the one who has to announce delays.
This site does get money (either from subs or ads) and the main reason for that is the quality of the messageboard posters. It would attract even more interest if the Board software was kept up to date and it was quick and easy to post and search.
Remember when hundreds of thousands of Scandanavian newspaper readers dropped by? “What if the Lord of the Rings had been written by somebody else?”
That was the Dopers in action. Encourage us!
P.S. Good luck with your book (and the Cecil Adams ones too). But please be aware that adding an entire forum to effectively make money for yourself was bound to grate on Dopers when e.g. the software had been out-of-date for so long.
Thanks for the explanation, Ed. And thanks to the staff, both volunteer and not, who help run this place. It’s brought me hours of entertainment for nearly a decade.
Been there, done that. 
Thanks Ed - you’re a bigger man than most.