We have no idea how much does or doesn't go on 'behind the scenes' between the moderators and posters, so.....what I'm saying is admittedly based just on impressions and guesswork.

There have been some threads that have seemed to go astray principally from the postings of one member. I have wondered why a moderator didn't step in (not necessarily publicly; maybe just by PM) and tell him to at least watch it, if not to cut it out .....rather than letting things go to where the thread has to be closed. Perhaps this has indeed been done, but just not visibly; or perhaps the moderators haven't seen the threads in this way.

The moderators seem in general to follow a laissez-faire, "let-'em-play" approach as much as possible, and that's great. It's hard to know exactly where to draw lines, and this site seems to draw them in just about exactly the right place. The reason I raise this is that there have seemed to be some clear-cut instances where the reining-in of a single poster (and I don't mean banning!) would have allowed a topic to proceed as intended.

No need necessarily to reply. But I hope this will get a moment's thought, if it hasn't recently.

I hate it when I'm really enjoying a thread and everyone is "playing nice" and then one person comes along and leaves that first disgusting or obnoxious comment and you just know the thread is going to get locked by the end of the day.

Yes -- sometimes it's like that, and sometimes it's not so obvious right away but then pretty soon it becomes clear that it's leading to no good. Either way, it seems there could be a better approach than just closing the thread. But maybe the moderators do try it more than we can see.

P.S. to the moderators: As far as I'm concerned, please feel free to delete this thread if you would like. I feel it has served its possible purpose.