Rick,

I don't see why the question of who is the most guilty is really relevant. I don't believe that Kirt or Phill were asking for any individual(s) to be treated any differently from anyone else, but just that some judgement be applied in a consistent way to ensure that the discussions here remain within the reasonable bounds of civility. I suspect that many people in this community would be be pretty pleased if there was some more active moderation going on, and would want it to be applied equally, without favor to everyone who posts here.

If this is something you don't feel you have the time to deal with, why don't you nominate one or two people on the forums who you consider to be trustworthy and give them adminstrative privileges to be able to remove posts they consider inappropriate and to send a note back to posters explaining why they were bounced. I can think of several people around here who I think would do a good job. You could also attach a sticky post at the top of the forum with a simple statement indicating the standards of verbal behavior that you/we expect. If you like, I'd be happy to help you draft something.

Mark.