In all seriousness, do let me say that we do value the contributions of all of our members, whether those be large or small. Outside of our Terms of Service policy, there is little that we do to restrict member freedom to express their opinions and thoughts. Comments that express disdain or ad hominem rebuttles towards other members are removed. Because the forums are currently low-key, which in a lot of ways is nice, we are able to keep up with regulars here and share our thoughts a bit more on a personal level.
I, for one, have never really had anything against this SevenForums.com website. I made efforts early on to approach them and asked them if they wanted to partner by doing a link exchange. The answer was a resounding no, over some obscure post that I had made, in jest, about the way they were advertising software. Eventually, we began to advertise in a similar way that they did. I never saw how they could not find humor in something so silly. I even expressed that to them in an e-mail response. Their policy towards Windows7Forums.com never really changed, over a one sentence comment that was made in response to a heckler who was actively promoting "SevenForums" and complaining about "Windows7Forums" on Windows7Forums.com. For all I know, he could have been put up to it by them, but for all intents and purposes, seemed to have just been a random troll, as he was also banned on their site.
I have never felt a reason to express anger or disdain at their management or people: They seem to have a reasonable tutorial section, but it is unfortunate that they have been unwilling to interact with other websites more. I am surprised that whoosh is a SevenForums refugee. I had likely forgotten that over the many years we have known each other, and I really did not realize that hostilities and emotions ran so deep on that site.
Certainly, one of the basic tenants and justifications for Windows7Forums.com and Windows8Forums.com is to actually be a forum. By its very definition, a forum is defined in this manner:
fo·rum   [fawr-uhm, fohr-uhm]
noun, plural fo·rums, fo·ra  [fawr-uh, fohr-uh]
- the marketplace or public square of an ancient Roman city, the center of judicial and business affairs and a place of assembly for the people.
- a court or tribunal: the forum of public opinion.
- an assembly, meeting place, television program, etc., for the discussion of questions of public interest.
- the Forum, the forum in the ancient city of Rome.
In all seriousness, the idea of a forum itself brings to mind a place where public opinion and expression is shared - and such expression can take on many forms. On technical Internet forums, we expect many conversations to take the form of a debate. In doing so, we also expect civility from our members, and a high tolerance level for those who disagree with you.
As forum moderators and team members, our goal is to moderate items that violate our Terms of Service: nothing more and nothing less. There is no "persona non grata". I think one of our most intense debates on our Staff Forum @ Windows7Forums.com involved the posting of a controversial music video in the off-topic Water Cooler.
It is an old saying, but while we may fundamentally disagree with something you have to say - we will fight for your right to say it. Otherwise, I would not have been interested in setting up these communities. This is not a site that is rule by majority - it is in fact a site that is rule by the terms that you agree to when you create your account. We have penalized moderators for inappropriate moderation in the past, when overreacting on someone either verbally or through our system. We make extensive use of the infraction points system, which, depending on the severity of the TOS violation, automatically determines whether or not a person is banned and for what duration. Usually, warnings resolve most issues.
I think a good example of our policy is, in fact, Andrea. A lot of people here, no doubt, disagree with everything Andrea has to say. But the solution is to refute her arguments, one by one, or simply choose to ignore her. The solution is never to choose to ignore someone, and then relish, publicly, in the exact same thread where you were complaining the very same person was being inappropriate. Constructive criticism about technology is something that we will defend, even if it is Windows 8. This is part of the discussion process, and it is part of managing a truly open and unbiased forum. If I am to lose an accolade or award because of that - so be it. I would rather be on the side of free speech.
Now, when such discussion becomes overtly repetitive, or plainly becomes trolling, that is a different story. In many cases, we were approached by individuals who know absolutely nothing about Windows 7, and defended Windows XP, if only because they knew nothing else. When we look back on the situation today, I am glad that we let those people speak their mind and allow individuals to converse and argue their points. It starts to become a dirty argument when we sling mud at each other. To understand this better, really look up ad hominem attacks and straw man arguments. These are common tactics that people use against one another, often times without even realizing it.
So, yes, for us, that is moderation, and that is as far as it goes. We realized a long time ago that some people would want to post all sorts of off-topic and scandalous material. That is why we set up The Water Cooler forum @ Windows7Forums.com and also Cafe 8 here on Windows8Forums.com. Having a sense of humor or the capacity to enjoy life does not reflect negatively on a person as a human being. We will never be such prudes that we go against the very fabric of what makes us people.
Don't get me wrong - there are a lot of great resources to be found on SevenForums. I only know that one experience I mentioned about trying to partner with them. It was never in their interest, and it seems they were tracking some random poster quite thoroughly up until the point that I responded to him. I have never seriously been offended by that site, personally, and in various meetings, I have pointed out that it is their right to run their website however they want. We take a more laid back approach here: focused more on moderating spam, providing content when possible, but relying on a community of active members and true enthusiasts to keep us afloat.
A true forum user understands why we have to protect speech that they disagree with. It is very important that we do so. It follows a common law tradition that dates back to the days of the Magna Carta, coming full circle around the time of the signing of the Bill of Rights. If those values aren't protected on Internet forum sites, where else will you find them? My goal is to try to keep the website as unbiased as possible.
I have no problem admitting I like Microsoft software - certainly not all of it. I prefer MySQL vs. MS-SQL. I like Android better than Windows Phone. Once we have to start picking and choosing who we like and who we don't like, we go down a slippery slope. In that world, people like whoosh get banned for having a sense of humor. And great contributors like the rest of you never get to contribute anything.
For so long as I can help it, that day will never happen here.