One of my favorite moderators was old "Oxygen." Every so often, I would go by there and antagonize the religious & anti-religious members, just to get them stirred up a little, as well as give them somebody to punch on & to take out their frustration. And to Oxygen's credit, he would only go after me when I got really out of hand & started in with foul language, ect.. But even then, Oxygen would just post a very polite reply message saying something like, 'Hey Howard, I know what you are doing, but some of the members are complaining about your ...... Would you please refrain from this?'
I always respected Oxygen for that, because it showed that he could deal with a very disruptive element (like me) without creating a civil war, getting personally involved, hurting my feelings & intimidating me, or drawing unnecessary attention & criticism to himself. In all of the times that I would get drunk & terrorize the religious forum, not once did Oxygen delete my crap or ban me. He didn't have to, because he would be polite and respectful toward me, even when I was being a beligerent, drunken ass**ole. And even in that condition, I could appreciate his kindness & would usually stop right afterwards (well, most of the time).
