Michael Rhodes wrote:
Is there a particular reason why r.a.s and r.a.p are not moderated?

Yes. It's so people (like you) can post off-topic rants (like this
one) about people they don't like rather than discussing aviation
topics.

I suggest you read the charter for r.a.s and r.a.p. You might discover
some interesting things. In brief, you would discover that the posts
by Mxsmanic are generally within the scope of the charter (certainly
all the ones I have seen from him starting new threads have been) and
that most of the responses are not.

Moderation exists not to protect groups from occasional individual
trolls but to keep them from being overwhelmed by volume from spammers
(many of the sex groups have had to do this) and flamers (many of the
groups discussing politically charged issues like abortion and firearms
have had to do this). The closest thing we ever really had to a troll
like that was Skylune, and he was one man. Not worth stifling the
discussion for one man.

Mxsmanic is not a troll. He asks relevant questions. When he gets an
answer that doesn't make sense to him (more often than not because it
is, at least in my opinion as a pilot/instuctor/mechanic/aircraft
owner, not a very correct or clear answer) he argues with it. When
people are abusive to him, he is abusive in return - but giving just a
little less than he gets. I've seen him post stuff that was out of
scope for the charter, but only in reply to posts that were
signifciantly more out of scope.

Moderation would not stop his threads. It would make them more
readable - by stopping most of the comments that are nasty rather than
responsive. It's almost enough to make me think this is a good idea.

Michael