Actually, based on what I have read it has been WM and you that have started the insults. Forgive me if I am wrong, but it is a long thread and may have missed something.
Originally Posted by Skip_8
First insult in Ivory's thread was hurled by Whispers in his typical innuendo fashion where everyone knew exactly what he was trying to say but he didn't name names. Ivory retorted directly with a silly (but fairly innocuous) barb and then Whispers took the gloves off and all hell broke loose. As far as I can tell, mods didn't warn anyone about anything as that thread was allowed to go back and fourth with personal attacks for quite some time... but obviously I have no idea since the mod philosophy is to talk to individuals so the community has no idea who is being punished and whether or not disciplinary action has been taken at all. IMO this just leads to rumors and speculation that people are being given special treatment or being let off the hook.
I don't care who gets points or what goes on behind the scenes but I'd love to see Mods call out specific posts for being out of line when they are in violation of the rules. Sixx does that occasionally -- like with a dead child comment and a racial comment, and I appreciate it. But other than that, I rarely see mods tell specific posters that their hateful insults are a violation of the rules -- I think it would serve as a warning to others. I think the community at this time might be under the impression that the insults thrown back and fourth in these various threads aren't against the rules because we never see anything posted other than vague things like "this thread has served it's purpose so it is closed" or "Let's keep the discussion on track".
I'm not trying to criticize the mods here. They have a tough job and I certainly wouldn't want to do it. I just think with the current system, many people get the idea that Whispers and others, male and female, aren't being punished for their insulting comments and that makes a lot of people afraid to speak up in threads because they feel they could be the victim of a personal attack or false accusation at any time without any recourse.
Whether it's Ivory, WM, Whispers, 78704 or anyone else doing the insulting, I think it would be helpful for the community if, in contentious threads, Mods could say something like, "post #xxx and #xxii were out of line. Please everyone refrain from personal attacks."