[goose2]

Wow...this is dejavous all over again! I used to moderate a large message board serving the sailboat racing community and the exact same thing happened. As membership grew and the population became more diverse, these problems arose. I think it is just normal evolution of on-line communities. People get to know each other, personalities emerge, friendships and rivalries form, resentments fester...just like real life. That's both the beauty and the hell of it. Having BTDT I have nothing but admiration and respect (and some sympathy) for the administration......it's a frustrating and often thankless job. The fact is, in any group of over a few hundred, there are going to be a lot of people who can't have it their way....some will make a lot of noise and piss everyone else off, some will learn to live with it, some will try to change things constructively, and some will just go away. Moderators and administrators need to become a bit dictatorial in deciding "how it will be", and if we don't like it we should be able to muster the maturity to accept it or leave. I have to bite my tongue while saying this, as I am an anarchist at heart, but I don't think it is the way to a long lasting on-line community. BTW...the board I ran died after three years of glorious unrestrained free speech...I sure would hate to see that happen to us.