[Hoot Gibson]

The damn word filter should be gone.

No, the word filter should not be gone. I have been very active in the past on what are basically un-moderated websites and given the choice between over-zealous moderators who are expected to set a good example and sites that have almost no standards, I prefer the former.

The new look is an improvement but the decision to remove the word filter and to not just lower the bar for acceptable moderator behavior but to remove it entirely makes the interface improvements irrelevant.

I left BGP a few years ago because there were two sets of rules for certain moderators and for regular members - but at least moderators were subject to some rules. Without rules, some moderators inevitably abuse the inconsequential power that they are given and drive paying members away.

Before that happens to me, I am taking voluntary leave from BGR and see if how things develop. I liked this website much better the way it was a few weeks ago. The pendulum has definitely swung too far the other way for my tastes. The moderator title needs to be stripped from a few loose cannons and a word filter of some kind resurrected.

I recognize that this is a private web site and free speech rights do not apply, so feel free to use those moderator powers of yours to delete this post or issue one of those life time bans if you want to flex those big moderator muscles of yours. :biggrin: