I've never been a member of that board, but this moderator was also at Space.com and a member of TheSpaceportV4.0.
I posted many of my ideas on astronomy at the appropriate forums there. I'll give the moderator credit, he was almost the ONLY one to post any constructive criticism of my idea that Pluto, Eris, Triton, and Haumea formed at the Sun/Neptune L4 and L5 points. Only one moderator posted on "Does Nemesis Exist? Did it Ever?" (not him) and that post was supportive of the quality of the evidence posted on that thread. Everything was linked. I feel that was the best thread they ever had on that site.
Somebody posted a thread on Space.com's "Free Space" forum, which is political, entitled "Is George W. Bush the World's Worst Living Mass Murderer?" and the second post on that thread answered, "Jean Kambanda is still alive". I posted a poll, "How many people should go to jail with W?" My answer was 11-50, some of them (including Private Enland, Specialist Graner, and Corporal Green) have already been thrown in jail.
A moderator (not the same one) put words in my mouth that I never said and claimed that I accused HIM of starting the Iraq war and trying to get HIM thrown in jail. But I had said in the very post in question that the moderator was protected by the First Amendment and could not be thrown in jail with W.
He had also said me using "W" was disrespectful, but that came from the mouth of none other than George W. Bush himself. It is not considered disrespectful to refer to FDR, JFK, and LBJ by their initials. With two President George Bushes, disambiguation is needed.
Well, I got banned. I consider that dishonest and insulting.
I went to the other site and was nearly continuously attacked by the BAUT moderator (he was only a member of that board). He made unfounded assertions of mental illness, specifically PTSD, but I have been examined by VA psychiatrists and there is nothing wrong with me. There's something wrong with HIM - and it's not listed in the DSM.
He later offered an apology for the unfounded assertions of mental disease or defect, but it was not accompanied by a lifting of the ban from Space.com. Therefore I rejected it as untimely, insincere, and inadequate. I stand by that. I will not post at BAUT unless that person is removed as moderator or resigns. Unfortunately, I do not know his userid there. That makes it smell like an ambush.
And I got banned from TheSpaceportV4.0 also. At least they had the class to wait until the day after the election, thus entering a tacit admission that "It's all political, anyway". I have no apologies there, unfounded assertions of mental disease or defect is slander and I'll be damned if I'm going to just sit there and take it.
RR once thundered, "I own this microphone!" That's a complex and controversial subject, one discussed here, but I'm going with reality and the First Amendment to the Constitution of The United States of America. I don't have the time or the money to set up my own message board.
Thank you guys for this one. I think if some crackpot wants to post here, let him. What if there's some facet of the 2012 hogwash that's true? Space.com has banned over a hundred people. This feeds the paranoia of the crackpots, and why shouldn't they feel this way?
No BAUT for me, unless that guy either offers a sincere and adequate apology, which would have to be accompanied by a lifting of the ban at Space.com, or resigns or is removed.
signed
Michael C. Emmert