Just for your general illumination, I wrote the set of rules the moderators follow back in 2003. Not Danny, me, with help advice and input from all the other moderators.
This is NOT a dictatorship. If you could see the level of debate between moderators you would see how seriously we treat this voluntary role. Tightslot is completely correct, you have no absolute right to post on here, and given the nature of the site it is not untoward to expect a degree of respect to be shown towards those towards whom the site is aimed. That, fundamentally, is the crew on board an aircraft, and not the passengers. This area of the forum has been set up to allow debate and interaction between passengers and crew, and the expectation of a degree of respect to be shown is not unreasonable. For your information, the other forum moderators are 100% behind the way this thread, and the other threads relating to this dispute are being ran. I am posting in my role as a moderator with a remit over the entire site, and in support of the moderators handling this thread.
So basically, we understand how this issue will inflame passions and opinions. We are more than aware that this particular arena of the site will attract comment negative towards cabin crew. But that does not give you carte blanche to continually thrust your particular point of view, regardless of any reasonable moderator input, into the face of every poster on the site. Bear in mind that you are talking to humans, not numbers on a computer, but humans.
Respect the opinons that are contrary to your own, respect the safety-critical job that is under debate here, and respect the simple fact that you are given this place to vent your frustrations by the, again, simple fact that those of us who can influence the running of this site have realised that there is a reason to allow passengers their place to speak.
That action does not give you the right to continually demean Cabin Crew, and myself and the other moderators, whose input you may not always see, stand fully behind the way this forum is being ran.
And for the record, no. I'm not Cabin Crew. But I back Tightslot's actions fully, and personally look to this forum as an exemplar of how to moderate such a diverse public.
Squid