Do I dare wade into this minefield where common sense is as rare as an on-time Starlight? Every forum, online or not, has some sort of moderator. This is required in order to maintain some level of civility and to keep the forum on topic. Altamont Press is no different, nor should it be. The removal of threads or comments is certainly unfortunate, but not because it constitutes censorship. It is unfortunate that a comment or thread warrants removal and thereby should be remoeved. This is not censorship or the violation of the freedom of speech. This is a private forum, and there are rules which must be followed. When they are not, the moderator of the forum has the responsibility to remove the offending posts. It should be noted when a comment is deleted, any child comments are removed as well (I have had comments removed in this fashion). Apparently this is due to the nature of the system used for this comment board. So, when responding in a flame war, beware - you could be deleted even if you are being civil.

But the moderation of a discussion forum, especially an online forum, is requisite in keeping the forum on topic and maintaining a friendly place to discuss the topic at hand (which in case anyone has forgotten, is trains). Rants about other railfans, railroad police and so forth are to be expected - it is part of the hobby. But when someone begins to post malicious comments, or belittle another opinion, this crosses the line. Disagreement is one thing, ad hominem attacks are another.

I have found this forum to be an excellent opprotunity for me to still be involved in my hobby, even when other demands of life prevent me from being as involved as I would like. I enjoy the technical discussions which prevail here, or the daily Trainnews post, or the beautiful phots posted here for our enjoyment. I generally ignore the posts which are inflamatory and don't shed any tears when the occasional one is removed. But remember, while this forum is private (ie not government run), it is also open to the public. This means there could be children viewing it. Timmy is perhaps a good example. Based on his posts, he is obviously young and interested in the hobby. And stories about chasing trains, seeing the photos from those trips or learning about the workings of the railroad from professionals is going to nurture that interest. But reading rants about trainorders, vile attacks between posts or even posts such as this one are going to turn him and others away.

Lets stay away from postings complaining about other forums, complaining about postings about complaining (like this one) and flaming one another and stay on topic - talking about trains. And, to paraphrase the infamous Rodney King "Can't we all just get along?"