I was just carefully reading this thread, considering all the sides of the discussion, especially since it concerns me indirectly. The I got to the bottom, where the google ad is:
“Mourning a loved one?”
Which is so perfect I had to mention it.
I would never claim that the two statements were equal. I will, however, maintain that your post, which provided only a link and a clipped phrase with no attempt to actually identify what was bad, was posted as an insult. It certainly could not be considered an actual effort to question or point out the error in a Moderating action.
Stop being cranky and just behave yourself. Other posters manage to do it.
QED was spot on with his observation. You’d do well to get over yourself and stop being condescending. Once the Straight Dope accepted the first subscriber dollar, you became a Customer Service Representative, like it or not. As customers, we are entitled to courtesy. Errors need to be communicated, but must be done absent snark. If you find yourself incapable of separating the two, then resign your position.
This is not the Pit. Insults are not permitted. (We specifically opened up ATMB to accept challenges to and discussions of staff actions so that such discussions could be carried on without resorting to insults.) There was nothing in Q.E.D.'s post that actually discussed (or even challenged) the Moderator action. His post was nothing but a drive-by insult. As such, he should have opened a Pit thread to express it.
Now, if you would wish to consider yourself a paying customer, (as opposed to a member of a community), that is fine. However, the merchant establishment that the SDMB most resembles is the neighborhood bar. You will note that in such establishments, when a paying customer becomes a rowdy drunk, (or even a not-yet-drunk obnoxious boor), they are not treated with overmuch deference due to the couple of shekels they have dropped on the bar.
I make no claim that Q.E.D. should be regarded as a loud-mouthed drunk in this instance, but he clearly stepped over the line (in a manner for which he has been admonished by other Mods on other occasions) and I see no point to tip-toeing around his (repeated) behavior because he has dropped a fraction over two cents a day on this board for a couple of years. (Very nearly every job I have ever had included some customer service responsibility and not one of them required the staff to be obsequious in the presence of a poorly behaving customer.)
In a very grammar obsessed neighborhood - perhaps around Oxford. 
No, it was a complaint. There’s nothing in the forum description or the forum rules which state that I must substantiate my complaints with details or to provide suggestions for improvements. I’m sorry you don’t like that, but I’m not required to please you.
Well, if you wish to equate the SDMB with a neighborhood gin-mill, I have some complaints.
A couple of the bartenders have been behaving oafishly towards the patrons.
The beer taps keep shutting off for no explicable reason.
We’ve been promised paper towels and hot water in the loo for quite a while. You began charging for the beer nuts which used to be free, ostensibly to take care of the bathroom problems, but we’re still drying our hands on our pants.
Hear, hear!
What? You don’t have another bar you can go to? Why would you, an obviously otherwise intelligent individual, continue to patronize such a shit-hole?
Because other bars won’t let them drop trou and crap on the bar…
If you thought that that was the way to express a complaint, then I can see why you keep irritating posters and staff with your rude behavior. What you actually posted was merely an insult.
The verdict remains: knock it off.
First, I said neighborhood bar, not gin mill. I’m not sure that rephrasing my statement to give it a negative connotation demonstrates a fair and balanced viepoint on your part.
Second, your lamentation in the BBQ Pit over the terrible behavior of the staff seems to have been met with a wide variety of yawns mixed with a bit of ridicule. From this it appears that your virtually unsupported opinion is a manifestation of some aspect of your imagination rather than an objective fact. You are free to give voice to that odd view, but I see no reason why I should pay particular attention to an opinion that appears almost solipsistic.
Maybe you should try tipping them once in a while.
Is that similar to cow tipping?
Somehow it does not surprise me to find you are unfamiliar with the concept of tipping bartenders.
Yet you were so careful to bring up that analogy – and, as an alternative, that of the “not-yet-drunk obnoxious boor.” Now that is odd. One might think you were suggesting and insult outside the Pit.
How quickly you forget!
You have, for the most part, become the mod who cannot criticize without being hostile. I don’t know what’s got your back up, but you haven’t always been this way.
danceswithcats, there doesn’t seem to be an input mode.
Then one would be projecting one’s preconceived notions onto my statement. The topic was the relationship of Mods to posters when the Mod was enforcing rules. The immediate analogy that comes up in that context is the one of the bouncer.
I have forgotten nothing. I am well aware that there are about a half dozen posters who cannot see one of my Mod actions without making a snide remark about how abusive I am. (There are also three or four posters who have criticized me for not being harsh enough in my actions.) You will note in the linked thread that there is no overwhelming support for the contentions of danceswithcats, so I see no great call for me to change my approach. You will also recall that in our previous exchange, I noted explicit reasons behind the occasions when I have expressed hostility. I have not yet seen you making any effort to encourage posters to to be kinder to the Mods who are just doing their jobs.
I don’t know what has your back up. The “input mode” is fine (despite your attempt at an insult). Unfortunately for your view, it is shared by only a tiny minority of the TM and you seem to believe that just by voicing your opinion, I am supposed to modify my behavior to cater to a truly tiny minority of posters. ::: shrug :::
I’m quite familiar with the concept. I’ll treat you nicely, and tip well, so long as you likewise are nice to me. If you choose to give poor service, or otherwise behave like a jerk, my gratuity will be a reflection thereof.
You really need not take up this cause, as you’re one of the Mods with whom I’ve never had a problem.
Responses to a thread can be interpreted many ways, and usually are, to suit the bias of the interpreter. In this case, tom has concluded that the premise isn’t valid, owing to a small number of supporting responses. In reality, all that has been demonstrated is that of the persons who (a) read the thread, and (b) wished to express an opinion one way or the other, most chose a neutral or nonsupporting position. That does not take into account those who would support the point, if they could do so anonymously.
Tom chose to enter this thread, which wasn’t critical of him or his actions, and accuse QED of inappropriate commentary (see post #44). After attracting criticism here, however, he wishes to dismiss that by referencing another thread.
It would be nice if the Mods would stand on their own to defend their actions, instead of the wagon circling mentality displayed. Where two were the focus of complaint, now another half dozen have chosen to jump into the fray.
I am an admin on some boards, including some of respectable size and age, as well a forum moderator elsewhere. I know well how a staff can become irritated by a pattern of behavior, often justifiably, sometimes less so. I’ve seen it with people I’ve known for many years and respect personally. (I respect this board and its staff too, but I’m not around enough anymore for it to feel as personal)
However, if you have a problem with a poster, might I suggest that you find a way to deal directly with that poster? This passive aggressive (I apologize, but I think it fits) thread canceling is annoying to me, and apparently others, because once a thread is started, it is an opportunity for all of us to make of it as we will.
To use your analogy: how would you feel if someone made a habit of walking up to people at a party and asking questions and then walking off and then the host came along some time later, and forbade further discussion on the topic – just as you were about to reply to someone else’s remarks? Who would be the ruder, the interloper or the censor? Closing a thread doesn’t just stifle the OP, it stifles all of us. It’s hardly less annoying if the host(s) start following him around and slapping their hands on mouths before a single word can be said.
I, for one, wish I could have read the rest of that gas stove thread. I had some factual suggestions, observations and further questions, having grown up with older gas stoves (of designs still used in many countries [Besides, a 30 year old gas stove may still have decades of life left in it, laws permitting. More probably fell to fashion than function.)
I understand that you may not have “grounds” for disciplining the OP, but I hope you will understand that it is, to some degree, our conversations you are stomping on. This does not seem an issue where such collateral damage is warranted. Okay, he’s arguably rude, viewed one way, but he’s more rude in a “people skills” sense, not a “being a jerk who impedes te smooth functioning of the board sense” – and we have no shortage of either.
In some settings a person who tosses out an idea like a brightly colored balloon to be left to fall to the ground (and off the page) or picked up, examined and/or played with … could actually be an asset. You might not want too many of them, but just one could simply liven the mix. I thought MPSIMS was that kind of setting. Apparently I wasn’t alone.
Oh, and the puppy thread a few days ago was a delight