Goodness! I go away for a few days and miss all the fun!
Anyway, to clarify a few things...
While it's true that I own the site, I readily accept that Eric's (and PCs, and, if I'm honest, the rest of the mods'!) skills in that particular area are greater than mine. That's the main reason why I ask them to do what they do. As PC said, when it comes to moderating, much of the time I look back and try to work out how Eric used to do it (and how he still does). I, myself, will often defer to the judgement of those who kindly agree to help me, because I recognise their experience and skills in the matter. I mean, PC has a Charisma score of 18, for goodness sake!
Having delegated that authority, these people are my representatives. When you ask what authority any of them have to close a thread, you're asking what authority *I* have to close a thread. And given that I'm the one forking out the cash, I reserve the right to close any thread I want to for any reason I choose. As it happens, I choose to adopt a general system of guidelines first introduced by Eric 3 years ago because I believe that they are both effective and fair.
Now, moderators *do* sometimes make mistakes. As does everybody else here on these boards. I don't think that that's a big deal, though. On balance, they are more than outweighed by the good decisions that they make, and the general effect is that 99% of the time everybody is happy. I don't think we'd ever be able to come up with a system which improves on that.
For the record, I do not think that Eric made a mistake in this case - I agree with the closure. Even if RR had not intended it to go political (and none of us would presume to know his mind), we are keenly aware of the general trends of this community and are usually able to spot a topic that will turn political. That doesn't mean that that was the fault or the intention of the thread starter.
Anyway. I hope that clears a few things up!
