There has been too much foul language here of late.

[caravel]

I for one would appreciate more ruthless moderators - a distinct lack of ruthlessness led to the recent debacle which very nearly prompted me to leave and I'm only still hear because a couple of people I respect took a fair bit of time to talk me down.

It's great until you're in the receiving end, then it's not so great...

"Ruthless moderation" creates and nurtures the kind of member that cannot exist without babysitting - the kind of member who simply does whatever they can get away with and then whines and complains when the staff do hit them. They are usually the same types of members who play "rules lawyer" and post reporting games.

I agree that for certain offences in the past, the penalties should have been both sterner and fairer to both members and staff alike. This would have brought into check certain members who were making a career out of dancing on the line...

The temp bans achieve nothing IMHO, they're never taken seriously and it's usually the same members wearing the infamous "-"... For the younger members - it's a "badge of honour", battle scar or entry into the "leet kewl kids club".

Perhaps the offences they were banned for were far too minor and did not warrant staff involvement? Perhaps they've been given too many chances already and are in need of a longer time out?

If this is the mature Org site then it shouldn't include swearing - if that results in infractions and temp-bans then so be it. You can get thrown out of actual "mature" institutions for less, I was once nearly thrown out of pub for raucous drunken singing.

But if you were in said club with a group of friends, in a corner, talking politics and one of you happened to let slip the f word - not loudly- and he was immediately thrown out...?

From what I have seen there has been a significant uptick in swearing since the policy was relaxed, this tells me it was working because editing and fear of censure kept swearing almost completely off the board - now the policy is being relaxed and people are clearly pushing the boundaries.

But perhaps editing and fear of censure was also keeping members off the board?