madisonb wrote:It would be great if the replies that were the most relevant to the question were given priority and any other comments followed so you could cut to the chase!
I am sure you are smart enough to realize that we cannot become Nazi Moderators here (although we have been accused of it more than once!

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The problem with open threads is that they do tend to go off on tangents at times. While it is sometimes regrettable, often the posters throw out something that warrants a response or at least another poster thinks so or disagrees. Now, put yourself in their shoes for a while. This is why we do have, on the general forum, a subforum devoted to "strictly speaking" and it is a heavily moderated thread that does stay on track. Even moderators split other moderators posts and shunt the garbage to the rubbish forum. Occasionally they overstep their bounds. We are all human and have a weaknesses. Eventually, all of us tend to to it occasionally.
Be thankful that we keep out the pure trolls, racists, spammers and advertisers. Otherwise this board would resemble the Angry Board and you wouldn't have the occasional post but page upon page of it without even talking about the original topic. Our job cannot please everybody all the time. The last thing we need are whingers and whiners and well.