And that is the entire foundation of your site... "A more relaxed freedom of speech..."? Ok that is fine when you have 36 members who all "know" each other somewhat "personally". If Simviation was made up of 36 members who knew each other, I am sure we would have a much more relaxed atmosphere here also.
But when you have over 36,000 members from around the world who are all different ages...
you need to be a bit more "professional" with your business plan.

It seems the thread in question has been removed from the site. I found it interesting that before it was removed that {insert name here} said that "anybody who breaks the rules here will be dealt with!". Only to see Doug "Grumpy's" post saying...
"Isn't that the same thing that pete tried to enforce at Simviation? Now maybe you understand why he did what he did"... or something along those lines.

I think then and there it was obvious that we all have rules that we try to enforce to keep our site(s) running smooth and keeping it enjoyable for all that visit. Maybe {insert name here} realized that is all we have been trying to do all along here at SimV. {Insert name here} was called out on it and that is why the thread was removed, IMHO.

Whatever has happened has happened, nobody is losing sleep over it in the end, it is only another forum amongst hundreds of thousands on the Internet. The problem we have are the things that are being done behind the scenes.
Let's say for example... a former member intentionally contacting authors who upload here to see if they authorised their uploads to Simviation....?
That is simply unacceptable and there is no reason for it other than to cause problems.

Hopefully this is the last of it it and we can all move on... John has created a site where you can speak about almost anything you want. As a matter of fact that is how SimV started out if I remember correctly,... there was a real "relaxed freedom of speech" back then, sound familiar? But as the site grew and the fan base increased, we had to adjust to accommodate the people who enjoyed the hobby.

It is hard to "manage" the feelings and opinions of so many on a single forum. The actions that we take are always discussed as a group usually over a month's time before any actions are taken. Usually if there is a problem the person will be contacted and told that there is an issue. To think that we enjoy banning anybody from here is complete ridiculous. Fozzer's name was brought up by a few over a year ago and was discussed numerous times among the Mods. The reason it took so long is because we all found Fozz amusing most of the time. But when the owner of the site receives personal messages once a month from different users, something had to be done. The reason I address this is because it was this reason that caused the scales to tip and those of you to jump ship. Imagine if you had over a dozen Fozzers a month posting things that people found offensive. Do you sit by and watch what you have created wither away, or do you defend what you have built? I am sure most of you know the answer to that with your new site. It only takes one member to bring that place down and I am sure you wouldn't want that to happen just as we here at SimV did not want it to happen.

Thanks again and I have said my peace... 
Dave...