I agree Itchmo. 

"You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing....."

It does seem that you have some people who have detracted from the board and they post A LOT.  I guess it is just like real life where you have the people who run others off by being so controlling.  I will dangle my toes in the water here and see what other people say.  Seems that the responses to well intentioned comments of some are becoming just as tainted as the pet food.  Really a shame to see what started as a good place to get information.....and I can still sift through the garbage....but I hate having to dumpster dive on a forum that started out as such a wonderful gift.

I am SO glad this thread was started.  In my opinion there are some posters who have started to monopolize these forums with hearsay, rumors, and mis-information.  It detracts from the valuable information the majority of us hope to get when we come to Itchmo.  Lately it seems that most of the time I'm reading something posted by Chicken Little about the sky falling!  It is very frustrating.  As much as I don't like censorship, I would agree that a little moderation of the forums may be helpful.

I have received a few complaints about specific posts, but those seem to have been resolved.  If you have specific people you'd like us to follow up on, then please send me a PM with their names and your specific complaints.  But alas, I do have a day job so I don't have all that much time to go rooting through topics to track someone... I'll bring this up with Itchmo Admin too.   

Unfortunately, the nature of these on-line forums always results in these "e-thugs" who like to exert their power in this medium since it's so easy and has few repurcussions.  As is often the case, it's usually just 5% of the population that cause problems for the other 95%. 

The best way to resolve these issues is for the Admin (Filbert) or myself to just ask the people to be more polite. Usually they comply. If they don't, we take more serious measures.

If you see posts like that please send Filbert a private message and we can monitor the situation.

Sorry, but I haven't seen any slanderous remarks.  It seems to me that by the time I can check them, the authors have changed their remarks...   They may make comments and opinions you disagree with, but that doesn't necessarily make them slanderous.  You reported a specific post that had nothing slanderous when I saw it.   But now that you've given some names I can take a look at what's been posted throughout a thread and make a better judgement.

Regarding Steve, while he has said some racey things, I don't think I would consider anything he has posted to be slanderous or worth deleting, even though i don't agree with some of them.  I have not been following the thread so the more details you can provide in your complaints the better I can make a judgement call.  Simply saying, "THIS FORUM IS DISGUSTING!" does not help me identify the problem.

I have archived all of the posts that Steve has made.  Looks like he is backtracking and changing his posts now.  How convenient.

Filbert,  My post was not to accuse anyone was being slanderous and of doing something that could get them blocked from the forum.   I AM accusing some of these folks of being downright mean-spirited and terribly harsh in their communication.   I realize that posts, emails and the like often lead to misinterpretation of both the meaning and the personality behind it.   That simply isn't the case here.   We have some bullies amongst us who take their stress from the situation out on others who may not be up to speed yet.  

I'm going out on a limb here...... but I guess that these bullies didn't know a damn thing about nutrition when they were fortunate enough to be blessed with their first pet.  Everyone must learn at their own rate, with their own questions and in their own way.  And the bullies need to learn to communicate more effectively or I'll continue to call them bullies.

The majority of people who care enough about furry friends to take the time to come to itchmo have to be good, kind people at heart.  Some of the communication here has taken me by surprise and greatly disappointed me.   I had hoped for a place to compare stories, experiences and pass on knowledge.   There are ways to say "you are mistaken" and then there are "ways".

If someone here needs lessons in communication and what "nice and gentle" means vs. "hateful and bitter" please feel free to email me at 13mews@bellsouth.net     Mail me some of your harsh diatribe and you won't hear back from me because I won't behave like you people.  

What I wanted the itchmo administrators to do was contact these people and ask them to "tone it down a bit" and hide their meanness for a few days.   Let's give the newcomers and the lurkers an opportunity to participate without threat of being verbally executed!

I guess this is now also becoming a thread for harshly accusing one another.... Oh well