A couple of times lately, we (the staff) have had to step in and either kill threads or have discussions with their authors.

I've been called names over this, I've had people object, and I've had the first amendment (freedom of speech) thrown in in my face.

For the record, folks, the Red Dragon Inn is a private institution. You are, in essence, guests in my virtual home. Just as with my physical home, I get to set the rules of conduct that my guests must abide by.

Understand, I do NOT want to be the speech police. I try to hold you all to Wheaton's Law (look it up if you are not familiar with it - it's a great policy for life in general).

If you want the specifics, though, please check out the Terms of Service. Note that you agreed to these when you joined the Inn, and that every single page on these forums has a link back to the TOS, and points out that using the forums means that you agree to follow the rules.

Speaking for the staff in general - without stepping on the toes of any of them, I hope - and, specifically, as one of the staff who has participated in thread deletions; we don't delete any post, thread, or comment without thought, I promise.

When we do choose to delete one of your posts, we do so because the content conflicts with the ToS in one way or another and, as Olan has charged us with doing in our roles as moderators, we have to delete them whether we may have agreed with the content, ourselves, or not. I know that when I delete one of your posts, I also send a (hopefully polite) PM along informing you as to why... I'm sure the rest of the staff does the same.

The main thing to remember, folks, is that the Inn is a gaming site... We're here to have fun!!! Remember that before you click submit on anything, and we'll all be in good shape.

Thanks and *facelicks*,
Eol

I've been debating if I really wanted to weigh in on this but I am an opinionated person and new or not, it's a matter I have some experience in.

I've been a mod on a small forum site. It's not fun. Nothing feels good about censoring things that you honestly agree with on a personal level. However, in the interests of keeping the peace it has to be done.

Just because something sounds one way to you doesn't mean it does to another person. In a forum situation like this we may have deep bonds but when it comes down to it, we're just words on a screen. Without any sort of body language or inflection to assist us in puzzling out the tone people are using when saying something it's easy for an offhand rant or teasing comment to come across as a deeply offensive attack when people can't see your face. Sure you may be grinning as you write about how much you hate doing this or that but the next person who comes along only sees what's typed in. It's very easy to take something that was said jokingly seriously and something that was said seriously as jest.

In short, read over things you say. Let someone else read over it if you're not sure. Actually if you're not sure if you sound like a jerk, maybe you should rewrite or just scrap the whole thing.

And don't take it personally if the mods take down something you say. This is home to a lot of people and they're just protecting that, as is their duty. I've seen sites torn apart because their mods just don't care enough to watch the forums. Small comments can break users up into little factions and a place that used to have a family like, occasional squabbling atmosphere turned into an all out war zone. It's partially for your protection as well. It's easy to get your feelings hurt when you post something only to have someone come along and jump down your throat because you didn't realize how offensive you sounded. The mods do these things because they love this place and want to preserve it for us.

Anyway, I'll stop with that.

+1 Applaud to Kriea for "getting it".

Gave her one myself as she was dead on correct.