I couldn't believe this person wasn't immediately kicked off the forum permanently. His blatant disregard for anyone else's opinion was shocking to say the least.

I am sorry to hear this. As a moderator I am especially sorry this was not dealt with in a way that gave you any satisfaction.

In response I'd say first that I don't read every post in every forum. We moderators are volunteers and this is not part of our job description. So, it is possible none of us read the thread at the point where this blew up.

So, please, if you feel there is something going on that requires moderator attention, whether it is spam or personal attacks, then send hit the Notify button at the bottom of the offending post and let us know we should look into it. I guarantee you that any post we are notified of gets looked at and any member complaining of a personal attack will get very close scrutiny. (This works for spam postings, too.) Thanks!

The other thing I should explain is that sometimes when a poster crosses the line it initiates an offline discussion among moderators, and oftentimes a message exchange with the offender trying to bring them back into line, rather than an instant banning. Depending on how that exchange plays out, they may be banned (and very often are) or possibly not, but there may be a lag between when the offense takes place and when action is taken. I would hope we mods would remember to PM the person attacked, too, but that can get overlooked in the flurry of activity.

Lastly, we don't announce when someone is banned. The only way to know whether a member is active is if they continue to post. A banned member just disappears. *poof*

jasonlivy, if that exchange still rankles you and the person who attacked you is still posting to these forums, I'd be open to revisiting it and trying to find an appropriate solution. From what I know of the other mods, they would probably think the same.

Edit: I see that since December of 2009 you have made only one other post aside from the one in this thread. I became a moderator in December of 2010 when packlite decided to expand his number of moderators. Even so, my offer to mediate still stands.

Further edit: I dug back into it and I discovered that the exchange you are most likely speaking of took place in February 2009 and the member in question has never taken part in another thread from that time forward. Although the forum software does not list him as permanently banned, the server has been down and restored and the software variously upgraded many times since then. The evidence suggests he was banned for that very exchange.