You know very well that I am not talking about verboten subjects such as gun-nut posts, but water cooler talk that made the TEA thread what it was and now no longer will be if you have your way. In fact by making the false parallel you are proving conclusively that this is not about wandering off topic too far, but about power and control. If you really can't tell the difference between content known by all to be inflammatory and harmless chat and handle the moderation of both with some nuance and finesse, then you've got more of a problem than the TEA thread mainstays walking out
Ok, let me put this into simple terms.... we volunteer our time to moderate these forums.
1) We have day jobs, families, lives outside of these forums
2) Our time is limited and we respond to moderation reports as we can.
3) Recently the TEA thread has been generating the most moderator report noise due to off-topic posts.
4) Upon investigation it's apparent that it has devolved far enough that there were posts about woodworking, road rules, covid and finally someone decided that it was OK to start posting a topic on guns/explosives.
5) These posts were removed, and it was made clear that this could not continue this way and the only way forward was to remain on the topic of electronics.
6) This was argued against, etc... but eventually things settled down and the TEA thread started to get a better SNR.
7) Again, reports flared up because people had gone back to ignoring the instructions given and again challenged the requirement that topics be kept related to electronics, even if that relationship was tenuous.
![Cool 8)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xcool.gif.pagespeed.ic.cOxV6sPNRd.png)
A line was drawn in the sand.
9) The line was crossed.
What do you expect?
It could have been said here? A topic that has existed for a few hours, when I'm trying to inform people in a thread I've inhabited for years that I'm deliberately going quiet and that those who know me know where to find me? Pull the other one.
Fair enough, and I apologise, I was too quick to act here.
Edit: Nice ninja edit there... (attached)
This thread will not be altered, deleted, etc... The only thing that will happen is it will be locked when it has run it's course.