Moderation in Moderating

My action in locking another thread on this board has resulted in some questions which were appropriately presented by using the CONTACT link to the left of this page. This post is rather long but I hope it presents the situation accurately.

First, let me say that I am not a "kid with a new toy". I have been a moderator on this board for several years now and probably most of you did not know this until recently. This is because this board is lightly moderated in regard to members' postings. Most of the moderation involves deleting spam and advertising and occasionally involves publishing posts which were incorrectly marked as spam by our automated "spam catcher". Rarely are user's posts edited or removed.

I was asked via private correspondence to explain the basis for my decision to lock the thread titled "State of the Union". Though some might not agree, it was not arbitrary. The general guide is the "Rules" of this board, especially the paragraph which says "The focus of this site is to encourage Part 15 hobbyists, and those curious about part 15 broadcasting, to share positive and instructional information about legal, low power broadcasting." ( http://part15.us/node/354) Does this mean that posts which do not specifically address our hobby topics are forbidden? In my opinion the answer is no. Many posts which could be classified as off topic add to the sense of community and information exchange here.

Leading up to the present, there have been several posts which were politically charged and were, in my view, quite hostile and negative. These were allowed to stand because I believed they were isolated and would be self limiting. So, why did I suddenly decide to lock the State of the Union post? It was done after I had quoted the rules in another thread to discourage such postings and perhaps my intent was not made clear with my reminder. It also appears that this is not self limiting.

My action did not result because I agree or disagree with the content of the post and it was not censorship since I did not delete the post. It was done to discourage future posts of a emotionally charged political nature. My position is based on my observations on other boards where such posts many times lead to arguments, name calling, hard feelings, divisiveness, and by their volume dilute the primary focus of the board. It seems that politics is like this. Fortunately, this has not yet happened here but it remains my opinion that these types of posts do not fit well with the stated purpose of this forum.

The question of how to proceed remains. It has been suggested that a "General Chat" section be established here to allow for such postings. I believe this is worth considering but have no opinion at present. Also, the issue of "fairness" has been raised concerning allowing previous posts to remain but locking this one post. I understand this concern and therefore have unlocked the State of the Union post. If you are so inclined perhaps we can contain our political posts within the State of the Union thread pending a decision on how to proceed on a the General Chat section suggestion.

With this in mind let me say that no one should feel that someone is watching over their shoulder nor measure every word or topic they post. If you have suggestions, comments, or complaints about the moderation or any other concerns regarding this forum please use the CONTACT feature rather than expressing this publicly. If you do so please be patient since we are all volunteers and it may take a while for a response.

I also ask that we do not make this thread a "he's right/he's wrong" discussion about me or any of our posters.

Thanks

Neil