I do not find the sometimes (seemingly) varied responses from Mods that surprising in a free to air Forum managed and operated by unsalaried people. Things are rarely B&W, except for mono CCD chips!
The man of strength in question, (Mike Sid) is a well respected astro photographer who over the years has contributed much to amateur astronomy in Australia and to this Forum, in a (mostly) likeable manner. Okay, so he might have had a brain snap and blew up for just one post – this is not his usual behaviour so maybe the mods just let it go to avoid the inevitable (groan!) criticism of “too much interference” being leveled at them. Or they didn’t see it? Or no one used the “Report Post” Button? Or no-one was on watch? Or all of the above? Who knows - my guesses entirely.
It also might be the case that other posters who may have had their posts locked just do not have an equivalent history of posting and contribution that Mike Sid has, and so the mods might not know if their behaviour is a one off brain explosion or maybe a posting trend? Again, my guess entirely.
I suspect that assessing posts culled from the numerous daily post count and trying to weigh up… “is it on topic?”…and if not…”will it go off the rails?” etc… is not an easy or pleasant task, given that they also have full time jobs, families and let’s also not forget, a hobby to get out and enjoy in their spare time.
Give the mods a break - this is a fun hobby; the Forum is a free place to meet. It is financed, serviced and supported by Mike and his volunteer team for the amateur astronomy community, for us to share our interest and love for (mainly) astronomy. Let them make their (few) mistakes just as others let us make our mistakes – don’t be in such a hurry to judge or demand justice. No-one is breaking your front door down with an axe trying to steal your telescope!
I have problems looking after my own PC, performing backups and installing patches – imagine the work that goes on behind the scenes in managing just those mechanical aspects of this Forum, let alone the personal interactions.
Astronomy is fun; the stuff we do is out-of-this-world and inspirational. If you really want to discuss the other stuff that we all know invariably gets locked, just go and join another Forum that provides for that outlet and have your say and fun there, amongst like minded people, but remain here on IIS for the astronomy stuff and general chat stuff that isn’t as controversial.
Cheers
Dennis