Err....no...

I'll just mention that we have no objection to nass or anyone else mentioning Pentaxforums, in fact we carried their original greetings without a murmur and they are regularly mentioned.

What we do object to is someone effectively saying, "This site is rubbish, come to this one it's much better." A step too far I think.

So did I Gwyn. Some (not all) sales people just might use a tale like that to steer a purchaser in a different direction.

Well Ed, if there was censorship or dictaorship you wouldn't be free to say what you've just said. I think that's a demonstration of freedom of speech.

As stated before though, when it becomes too aggressive and crosses the line into offensive, then something has to be done.

Cats don't like to feel trapped, so the person who doesn't like cats doesn't try to approach or cajole the cat. So, feeling unthreatened and knowing the person involved will not try to stop it escaping, the cat is happy to take advantage of a warm spot.

That's my theory anyway!

Thank you Chris, I'll pass along the message to the appropriate department.

That last shot is fantastic - what a great moment and how rare to be in the right place at the right time.

I can answer those points

1) PM. Private messages are private and are used where moderatoion is needed to give anyone involved a chance to sort out a problem discretely and without embarrassment. Most situations never become public and the individuals have no fear of returning to the forum if they wish, all forgiven and forgotten. Regardless of the provocation and the fact that not everyone plays fair with this, it will not change.

2) General Chat subtitle has already been changed to clarify. Please check it out.

3) Same answer as 2) but in addition the Terms and Conditions have been modified for some time to make the framework clearer. It has been mentioned already.

What I do see Peter, is that a very few people sepnd most of their time posting non-specific grumbles and it would be more constructive to send a PM about something specific, with a link, so it can actually be looked at.

There has been an attempt to clarify a couple of points recently by explaining more thoroughly our Pentax-only stance and by defining the sort of thing that General Chat is for. It seems you don't like that either, but if you are confused or doubtful about any particular point then please PM and ask.

We try to be as flexible as possible whilst remaining within our brief, so perhaps what you see as arbitrary is actually just being a bit relaxed about General Chat and not trying to be excessively restrictive. The judgement of that will vary from moderrfator to moderator and from thread to thread, depending upon its content. We read them first before anything is done and intervention is actually quite rare. Most people seem to have the idea.

There's nothing arbitrary, but we can waste our time discussing rules or we could get on with the more useful and constructive pursuit of photography.

Personally I have more time for the latter. Constructive comments are always welcome.