I have never deleted, supressed or punished people arguing the opposite of my position.
Agreed. But, speaking as one who was banned for "contributing nothing but sniping at (a) moderator" I would have to say that Bealzebub has a point. At the time I was banned, I was merely trying to point out that many would not react well to the tone of delivery by the thread moderator. There has been a load of good stuff here but many people have switched off to the arrogant and condescending manner in which some of the messages have been delivered. Disappointing really - Judge and jury springs to mind. Indeed, if one were to try and report this thread or a particular post within the thread (for example one which allows the privilege of swearing) I guess that report would go straight to the accused.
Many forget that internet forum are the worst possible place to get a balanced view on life. Any who post here (self included), should be met with a degree of cynicism. This thread has been abused and should be looked at by the pprune hierarchy for what it is. Of course, they own the thread and will do whatever they wish. Finally, most of us aspire to 'earn' things to better ourselves. Earning one's position as a mod on pprune seems to me to be a sad, very sad, claim to fame. Then again, I've probably been sad enough to waste 10 minutes of my life typing this post which has a high risk of being deleted.
Adieu.