'Tis not so much the moderation itself that has been objected to, but the manner in which perfectly reasonable questions, posed by some posters, have been responded to. Yes, this board DOES belong to Danny, and he, through his appointed moderators, may run it as he sees fit - I don't think anybody is trying to deny that.
Many here are also starting to suspect what Rob's motives may be for (a) removing certain posts, and (b) the tirade of abuse that has followed what, IMHO, was a legitimate enquiry as to the reason for (a).
Comments such as:
Pontificating post pubescent politicos who'd argue with their own toenails. The Google gob!!!!es and the 'I could have been a policy wonksters'.
...are clearly abusive and, coupled with the (not even disguised) use of profane language, clearly violate the rules of posting on these forums that Danny and his moderators have promulgated and seek to enforce. How can you expect forum users to abide by the rules you set when you do not yourself?
PPRuNe may well be
As of this week the 12th busiest bulletin board in the world
...but much of that is down to the users of THIS forum - aside from JetBlast, Mil is your biggest forum by a considerable margin, not just in terms of post numbers, but in terms of numbers of members / guests reading it. Perhaps that is the REAL reson for the cull - getting 'too big for our boots'? If the story about server space / capacity overloading, requiring some pruning, is true, then perhaps JetBlast wouldn't be a bad place to start? Almost THREE TIMES the number of posts in there as in here, and a great majority of it genuinely IS irrelevant twaddle, generated largely by a relatively small number of very active posters, that has nothing to do with aviation. Trying instead to reduce the scope of the Mil forum will only leave PPRuNe a poorer place, IMHO - this forum has been so successful precisely because it gives us Mil types, and those with an interest in Mil aviation, the opportunity to discuss issues that ARE relevant to US. Take that away, and you will be cutting off your nose to spite your face. A very large proportion of your traffic, and the subsequent ad revenue, is down to the users of this forum.
But, as has already been stated, this
is YOUR site. You may remove, lock, delete or moderate as you see fit. With that in mind, may I make 3 requests?
1. If you decide to remove / lock a post / topic, can you at least be clear and honest about your reasons why? If it is simply because a topic or poster has pissed you off, then say so.
2. If so many posters are transgressing the rules of a specific forum, then it may be the case that those rules are not as clear as they should be. It would be in everybody's interests if it were clearly stated just what IS and ISN'T acceptable in the Mil forum. If you wish to impose rules in THIS forum that differ to those of the other forums, it would be helpful to us all if they were sticky'd at the forum head. We can then have the opportunity to review these rules and choose to go elsewhere if we disagree, rather than waste YOUR time arguing it out in threads such as this one.
3. Everyone accepts that you may do as you wish here. However, we, almost without exception, would not take an arrogant, high-handed tone with the moderators, or hurl childish abuse at them. I would request that you do us, your users, the same courtesy.