I think you need to understand something - the mods and I recieve complaints on a constant basis from members complaining about other members. A LOT of accusations are made back and forth. Granted there's some truth to them, but often they're exaggerated. Most people want some other member banned for, in essence, being a "terrible person". Often we get PM's from both parties stating how terrible the other person is. :
In addition, we often receive requests to mediate disputes that arise from transactions in the Flea Market section. We used to receive them all the time - to the point we've implemented this policy:
http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1228692862
Sometimes these flareups occur publicly on the forums - which we will not tolerate. Posts that attack other members due to disputes are promptly dealt with and removed. But most of the time we get PM's alerting us to an issue - which we appreciate. However, we're brought in on the tail end of things, so there's no way for us to really filter out the exaggerations from the truths - especially in the heat of the moment.
At any rate, we receive these PM's on a constant basis. So when we hear yet again how bad a person is and that so-and-so has been wronged so the other person should be kicked off the forum, we have a standard way of dealing with it:
We take both parties, split them up, put them in opposite corners of the house, and sit them down facing outward. Then we tell them to either work things out amongst themselves or simply ignore each other. In addition, we may offer some advice to prevent the issue from cropping up again (like being more communicative or setting realistic expectations first, before commencing a transaction).
99% of the time that solves the problem. But in this case it didn't, so further action was taken. I trust you agree that action was the right move.
Understand, too, that we're not perfect, but we try our best to maintain the peace around here. Hindsight is 20/20, so it's extremely easy to point out mistakes well after the fact. We learn from them best we can and move on.
While I agree (now) that the guy shouldn't be selling anything because he cannot follow through on the deal, I stand by my actions to break up a fight and giving the parties a chance to resolve their dispute in a more amicable manner.
I did the best I could given the circumstances at that time (one complaint). But once a trend was established, I took further action. That said, never will I condone somebody trying to take matters into their own hands by badmouthing another member on this forum and/or attacking him publicly, regardless of how noble or justified they feel the cause, or how "right" they may seem after the dust settles.
Hope that makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions.
Glenn
