I can't speak for Hortlund but these are the facts as I see them:
1) He never saw the Pics because of his first post stated this:
Is the picture removed? Or is this wednesday babe a small dot...like this one --> .
(And perhaps people who dont want to see the wednesday babe should not open threads named "the wednesday babe"? Or is that just me being stupid?)
His second part of his quote (IMHO) was mild sarcasm. Hardly a 'slap in the face.'
2) I can't speak for him but I didn't know that Yankee was an administrator making an official request. I just thought it was a concerned adult about the direction these 'Wednesday Babe' threads were going. When I read posts I hardly look at the fine print of the person posting, usually just the content of their message. I can't recall ever seeing a post by Yankee before.
3) His second and final post reinforces that he never saw the pic:
Do you mean porn like in "porn" or porn like in "oh no, that woman is only wearing underwear and that bothers me because [insert whatever reason]"?
Again mildly sarcastic, but come on, hardly worthy of being banned!
4) Then to top it all off:
Gentlemen, Clean it up.
Hortland:
When one of our staff ask you to refrain, I strongly suggest you do. Slap anyone here in the face again and you will nolonger be here.
HiTech
HiTech issues a warning of banishment if "Slap anyone here in the face again and you will nolonger be here." So HiTech issues a warning and then bans Hortlund anyway.
As most of you are aware, Hortlund and I are polar opposites on most of the issues he and I have 'debated' so I am not 'saving' a squaddie, buddy, etc.
On the face of it, it appears that some over-reactions have taken place. Could it be because maybe HiTech and Yankee could be putting in some long, hard hours in bringing us this great product of AcesHi. If that were the case, it would be understandable how one could be under stress and over-reacted in this matter.
Understandable, yes. Right, it is not. This sort of reminds me of a totalitarian, fascist dictatorship. A single person (Hortlund) has been singled out for banishment when more could be banned for much, much worse.
I do realize that this is a private, non-govt enterprise. I do feel though as it is public and based in the US it might be condusive to follow in the spirit of the Bill of Rights. Yankee and HiTech, what message are we sending our young players? That it is ok to ban someone that discents an opinion? That to debate is wrong? Mind you, I have no problems of bannishment of those that deserve of such (threats, foul language, racsism, posting PORN) as we need to protect those who are underage.
Please reinstate Hortlund, lets all chaulk this one up for experience, and let by-gones be by-gones.
Thank you for your time.
Best regards and ~S~!
wSNPR