Well said CI. No discussion about the OP topic and not HNI's finest hour--all the way around. This topic has exposed some of the shortcomings of HNI. Bullying by at least one member (his posts were edited and he's on a 2-month vacation now), continuing with the argument or flamewar (posts were edited and warnings issued) and mods not taking action quick enough to nip this in the bud. The bullying member is on a 2-month vacation and his next one will be substantially longer, up to and including permaban if he commits a particularly egregious violation again. The posts furthering the flamewar have been edited and warnings posted. The mod part is the hard part of this topic. This was a newer mod's "trial by fire" topic and the rest of us didn't want to step on his toes. He eventually made his decision not to take further action but such decisions aren't really reflected in a forum (nor should they be). That was his choice to make.

However, that choice enables bullying and bad behavior that has been plaguing HNI for a while and it also weakens the credibility of the other mods and makes our jobs harder. 3 of us mods wanted to take direct action yet held off out of respect for the involved mod. The above actions were taken to restore balance to the topic and set an example that bullying isn't going to be tolerated. They should not be taken as a judgement of the other mod as becoming a mod does have a steep learning curve, something that all of us mods can attest to. The other Mod also said any of us other mods were welcome to jump in if we so desired. 3 of us did but I was a little quicker.

For future reference, if anybody has a complaint about a particular post, please use the yellow complaint ticket button which is located at the bottom left of each post. Filing such a complaint will direct an email to all mods and Admin so that whoever is available quickest can respond in the quickest manner possible. If you wish to address your issue directly with the offending member, please use the PM feature to send that member only a Private Message so that the 2 of you can discuss it away from the forum. Doing so keeps it out of the forums and does not violate the rules--unless you're going to threaten, harass or intimidate the person in the PM. That is still a rules violation. Just about everything you can do in life (sports, school, job, military, etc.) has rules we are required to abide by. HNI is no different. If you violate the rules, it will be addressed. If anybody has any questions about the above decisions or this post, as always, you are welcome to PM me and I will do my best to answer your questions.

So with all of this being said, gentlemen and ladies, play ball.