l've got to be honest and say that, in my opinion, the mod squad is already doing their moderation the best way. Anything more obtrusive would probably drive away a part of the regular posters who don't like police state mentality on their message board, and anything less would let the 4E forum drown in flames.
I've been temp-banned once..the first time since I'm registered here..because I was caught with my thick skin down, during the phase when "if you're just negative about 4E, why don't you go post elsewhere instead" was the second-most used argument in pro/anti discussions. It was a mistake on my part, and I did learn from it. I had a pleasant email exchange with the mod in question, and had 3 funny days watching the 4E squabbles from a distance.
There's some things that drove the heat a few notches up here, that's for sure. One thing is the rampant speculation that started with the first snippets of 4E being released, and the instant creation of extremist camps. Another is the sudden influ of new users and the de-lurking of silent users, who chime in on the discussions out of the blue, and not always in a helpful manner either, which makes it feel like those accounts were created or reactivated just to come here and sow some discord. There's the tiresome repetition of sometimes very annoying phrases...the whole "Sacred Cow Slaughter", "Death to old-school D&D", "Anti-4E Out", "D&D is getting killed for the money", "I'm not paying money for previews" or "Dumbing down the game" rhetorics that were used ad nauseam by one or the other camp, often only in slight variations, has a tendency to get under your skin if it is used too often, and everywhere you look. Mix that with the usual offending ad hominem, hong-branded snarky or threadcrapping posts, and it's no surprise the mods look like firefighters in California when the wind picks up.
I don't think we need heavier moderation. I don't think we need lighter moderation. Wulf has one good point...each of us needs a more stable self-moderation module. If a topic promises interesting discussions, then discuss, don't argue. Don't feed trolls, no matter how polite they sound...report them. Not so the mods put the lock on the thread, but simply so they can keep an eye on it. If you find one poster to constantly get on your nerves...put him on your ignore list. I've done that to people of both sides of the spectrum, and it has increased my reading pleasure on ENWorld considerably. Maybe in a year, I'll put them off the list again, but right now I prefer not to have even more posts to clog my mental filter with. Also, remember that it is perfectly fine to post your opinion, as long as you don't do it just to have an excuse to insult somebody else...but at the same time, it's perfectly fine if your opinion simply gets no responses. Opinions are nothing that NEED responses either, they are no arguments or questions, they are a statement of personal preference on a certain thing. They don't need to generate posts, especially not of the ugly kind. And IF you feel like you need to post something ugly...no matter how justified it may look...don't post it. Follow Wulf's advice, type it, read it again, rewrite it, and if it can't be made prettier, delete it. And feel good that you managed to resist to get down into the mud and get dirty.
About Morrus' post...sometimes I wonder if the mods couldn't do with an ignore list, too, in order to shut out the whole "ENWorld is not impartial" complaints from either side.
