even while I was a moderator, I always found the red warning text and the big red banners really kafkaesque, especially knowing who was on the other side of them (schlubs like me). the whole point of forum moderation is to be largely invisible, keep conversation running smoothly, and make sure threads were readable. the warning system and mod interventions, as they exist now, do exactly the opposite and just become a distraction. i was trying to post in that jon blow thread and then my post didn't go through because... a mod had locked the thread 'temporarily' to make a mod post? which amounted to nothing except to reaffirm what kind of opinions were off-topic or bannable? like why was that necessary?
