[Joe Forster/STA]

Had you been around for like 7-8 years, you'd know how many lamers have always been coming here; you'd know how annoying it is to see the same questions and rule-breaking posts again and again; you'd see how hard to it to maintain order without being strict and telling lamers to behave themselves upon sight.

Probably, you're the "let the child do whatever he or she wants" kind of (would-be) parent. I'm certainly not. Now imagine you have a couple of thousand children. Whose strategy is going to work? Also, if you think we with Grumpy are not the right persons for this "job" (doing it for free, of course), you're questioning the other moderators and administrators, as well, who chose us from among senior members. Also, you might have not noticed but some members - experienced, probably oldsk00l-type people - are not even satisfied with the current rate of banning!

This whole thing boils down to the following question: if someone has a sensible question here, will he or she find the answer in an efficient way which is not only fast but gives no unnecessary burden/trouble to other members? (Remember, your problem is yours, not ours; you don't have the right to expect us to solve it completely for you, as you haven't paid for this service.) If there's a FAQ, he or she needs to read it; that's much more efficient than asking, even for him or her. If there are forum rules, he or she needs to adhere to them so that he or she won't annoy other members with wrong posts.

Members who have useful knowledge, questions and answers - power users; higher in the hierarchy of "usefulness" to the forum and each other - will like order because they can discuss useful topics. Members who just drop in here for a fast (and, mostly, frequently asked) question and expect fast, accurate and detailed answers - newbies or lamers; lower in the hierarchy - shouldn't be allowed to disturb power users. And there's only one way to turn from a newbie into a power user: by learning yourself and making yourself useful to the forum (or, in general: community).