There are two voluntary forum moderators, Damian and myself, who try to keep this forum running smoothly and in a reasonably friendly and polite way.
We both have full moderator permissions (a.k.a. global) which means that we can edit or delete forum content and, subject to established procedures, we can suspend forum accounts either for specified periods or permanently.
We have many software tools to help us, but unfortunately what we don't automatically have in our online tool kit is the ability to foretell what fellow forum members may or may not think on any given subject.
I'll agree that the subject matter under discussion has strayed very slightly into what some may regard as the political arena.
Personally I'm not 100% certain which message board this thread initially appeared on, I have to be honest and admit that I didn't notice but I'm not really an OCD sufferer, and anyhow the thread is now on the Chit Chat non caravan specific message board so perhaps Damian moved it, I don't know.
I can't reply for Damian although having worked in tandem as a moderator on this forum for the past ten years I know that both he and I have the interests of this forum at heart above all else.
We try to treat people as adults, it would be oh so easy to jump onto every little thing that somebody might disagree with, so we resist the temptation to nit pick with constant edits or deletions.
Treating people as adults also involves allowing people to express opinions when something happens that might provoke interest or discussion amongst forum members, our personal beliefs or feelings shouldn't enter our judgement when this happens.
The Australian bush fires are a case in point, news headlines are dominated by this cataclysmic event and a forum member decided to discuss the allocation of overseas aid funding in connection with the bush fires.
Neither Damian or myself saw anything particularly wrong with this important subject matter being discussed, in fact we both put forward our own personal views on this thread.
Nobody from what I've seen is denigrating any political party or advancing argument in favour of one or the other which is why this topic survived our first scrutiny.
Apologies if some forum members find the subject matter uncomfortable, if the overall consensus is to completely prohibit grown up discussion within the rules, thats fine, we can do that.
Damian and myself are in regular off forum communication and he has made minor edits to keep this thread within forum rules, he has just contacted me to let me know.
As moderators we know that we're not infallible by any means, we are happy to accept and to learn from members criticism but we don't moderate the forum by committee.
Every decision is a quick judgement call, so if we get it wrong - oops, sorry.