Tim?

Well it was until you opened it again.

Are you uncapable of understanding the concept of discussion closed

OK guys, don't make that an argument as well. He is right though, it was closed until you brought it up again. :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBFhdeR9PE

I'm not sure why you are so keen to finish this discussion which clearly has very far reaching implications for the forum. I can't see how a full and frank discussion of these issues is anything but healthy.

I no longer take much part in the forum but I lurk and find some posts very helpful and might have enjoyed or benefited from Tim's contentious post but I'll never know now.

My great disappointment is that no real resolution has emerged after 14 pages of quite serious and sometimes heated discussion.

I'm waiting for the 7 days that's been mentioned to be up and see if both 'sides' can come to a mutual agreement and a valued member of the forum can return and we can all benefit from his contributions which in the main have been positive.

Mike

There has not been a nanometre of progress towards any sort of resolution, nor any satisfactory engagement from the moderation team, so continuing does seem a bit futile.

I take a slightly less bleak view than Pentaxophile's.

First, this thread is continuing in a fairly civilised manner.

Second, nobody has sought to censor or curtail it.

Third, the fact that the matter remains unresolved demonstrates that it's a complex issue, not that there is no possibility of agreement, eventually.

Fourth, the absence of input from the mods is surely deliberate. People are being encouraged to have their say.

G

Good point about the seven days, Mike, though I fear that neither party has any interest in conciliation anymore (even if I hope otherwise).

This is a shame, as the incident has done much damage to PUF. One only has to see the thread on the other Forum started by PUFers announcing their migration there, which includes some extremely longstanding and well respected members, to register this. (I post no link because this might be deemed provocative).

George's point about a constructive lack of censorship in this thread might be valid. However, if all it's producing is hot air then so what?

One can only hope that lessons have been learned by all concerned.

I fear you are exaggerating slightly, Dr M.

Did you read this, posted by Stefan?

"I really thought more might come over but guess not."

Of those claiming to be defectors (as opposed to members of both forums) I saw only one "long-standing and respected" member (Prieni). Most of the others were either infrequent or perhaps (in one case) overly-frequent posters.

It's interesting that many of those who have been most vocal in this thread are not UK-based, and thus gain no benefit from belonging to this site rather than to one in, say, America. The threads on suppliers, locations, meetings, and matters of purely local interest will be less relevant to them than they are to UK residents. Their ties to this site are therefore likely to be less strong.

G

We are currently discussing the matter of Tim's banning and subject to the ban being lifted when the 7 days expires later this evening, it would be very unfair to put any pressure on Tim if he decides to return to the fold.

On reflection, it would have been better to have not had this thread at all and in future these things will be indeed PM only, as per the T&Cs. If that had been the case things could have been resolved discretely, so there are good reasons for these rules.

Therefore this thread will now be locked, and if Tim does return hopefully we won't turn a spotlight on him but will just accept him back into everyday discussion.