1) I don't care if you're this Reno guy or not. I received some PM's about it from other posters in the past, and that's exactly what I've told them. All I care about is that this place is a decent place to discuss baseball without excessive sniping and bullshit. That's it. The Reno stuff has stopped. It's over. Move on.
2) You're not being singled out. What you don't know is that some of the folks with who you have been battling have have been run afoul of moderation themselves in the past. I have PM'd other posters to tell them when they need to back off, etc., and have done that in relation to this particular series of blow-ups. I don't play favorites here, although I admit to a general bias in favor of casual fans who want to have more friendly discussions. That necessarily means asking some of the more aggressive guys to rein it in on occasion. Someone else might moderate differently, but that's how I do it. When either myself, or Sebastian, or someone else on staff starts getting PM's from ordinary posters saying that the sniping is ruining threads, we read, then we act. And again -- it isn't just you. So far, the other guys have responded to messages with a friendlier, more cooperative tone, and we all just move on. In the end, we all love baseball, and that's why we're here.
3) The last think we want to do is ban anyone. Some of the very best posters on this site are guys who can sometimes annoy the piss out of others because they're by nature argumentative. I am guilty of that myself in other forums sometimes as well. So when we ask guys to be conscious of whether they are making the website better or worse, or dragging something out for too long or getting personal, and they respond in a friendly manner to try to make this place better, that is our preferred outcome by a mile. But if you turn this place into your vehicle to launch crusades on specific issues, to "wake people up"....that isn't going to work.
4) The "last word" syndrome is something that really causes issues, because it means arguments don't end. I simply ask people who are engaged in an argument to consider if they've already made all their best points. If they have, then simply rewording/repeating them doesn't accomplish anything. If you didn't convince the guy the first time, you're not going to convince him by being repetitive. If I could give one piece of advice to folks as to how to keep threads from being derailed, it would be that. And if the other guy insists on getting in the last word....
let him. Because if you don't, then
you become the guy who annoys others by ensuring that
you get in the last word.
5) Being a moderator isn't exactly a well-paying gig, and neither myself nor any of the other guys can do this full-time. So when shit starts to happen here that causes us to start treating this like a job, we're more likely to use an axe rather than a scalpel because we simply don't have the time. That's when threads get locked, etc.. Have consideration for others when deciding whether or not a particular battle is worth continuing. The more convoluted and prolonged the fighting gets, the more difficult it is to assess blame fairly. So avoid those situations if you want to maximize the chance of fair treatment. Also, don't shit on the mod in public. Management does not look kindly on that. PM those kind of issues.
6. These are the principles by which this forum runs, and they aren't changing. Nor do I plan on devoting hours each day to playing cop in here. So if you think you can figure out a way to make your points and arguments with the above in mind, great. Having different perspectives and ideas usually makes the forum better for everyone. But the tone and style of how you present those different perspectives and ideas is critical.
7. That is all. I'm locking this for awhile because I don't want it to be cluttered up in debates. If anyone has any issues, PM me. If I think it is an issue of greater concern, I'll post it in here.