renegadze wrote:On the basis that technically the opening post remains the intellectual property of the author, they can ask for the tile to be renamed as they see fit. While leaving the thread open may have merit, at the very least the author can request that any posts they have made be removed
Your base premise is untrue. Anything on these boards is the intellectual property of the Site Admin. He carries legal responsibility, and as a consequence, supreme and unquestionable authority to ensure -at the very least- the legality of the content. If it would please him to remove an entire forum section for no reason, he could do so. He might upset the community, but it's his forum, his rules, his ownership. If he'd want to edit Philip's name into "Lying Maniac", he could, and there would be nothing anyone could do to protest that.
He has delegated that unquestionable, supreme authority to the Forum Administration (Earendil, Zeratul, Bazsy), who in turn delegate part of that authority to their GMs, who in turn employ mods (from an admin-approved pool) for their sections.
The Forum Administration saw fit to state their rules in public, something they are not required to do, but something that enables us mods to do our jobs with a little more ease.
Any freedom of speech is the freedom of speech the Administration gives you. If you are not satisfied with the amount of freedom you have, talk to the Administration. They are under no obligation to listen. They are under no obligation to act. They are under no obligation to even acknowledge your existence.
But knowing the decent chaps they are, I know they will listen to you. But don't make the bloody peasant's mistake of thinking that "listening to your problem" means "promising to act to solve it". It is a courtesy to listen.
*equips Zeus armour*
"They need to be reminded of the order of things."