I actually like to read both anonymints posts and lauda's.

One does not have to agree with or like them personally to gain a lot from reading good posts from those that present very useful content.

Both seem okay to me anyway. of course strong characters will butt heads that is part of the creative/evolutionary process.... it is healthy.

The forum is poorer for banning anonymint ...there can be no sensible rebuttal to this.

The forum would be poorer for banning Lauda too. His posts are interesting and he has even got the kind of personality that can admit when he was wrong about something ... although in the past we have had many arguments before he was a mod.

Theymos has offered a fig leaf in saying he will allow AM back ...because I secretly think he knows this is the case that AM does bring a lot to this board and many other members can appreciate that too. I know the argument about board resources is valid and sure the rules should be followed. However the rules really are not working that well for this board right now. I would say 90% of this boards resources are being used and 0 useful content is being added. I say 0 but really most content being added to the main boards is negative to the board since all the junk drowns out and smothers the odd gems of useful discussion. ICO shilling and spamming is rife.

I actually see the main boards becoming unusable lately. I did post an idea to reduce it in meta I hope it or something similar can be implemented before the board is too difficult to use.

The solution is simple I feel from here.

Anonymint makes an agreement directly with Theymos to reactivate one of his legendary accounts ... maybe the anonymint original or which ever AM wants on the basis he WILL follow the rules as they are.

Then in future ONLY Theymos can ban him, but then if banned will not return.

This may seem like special treatment for AM but then sometimes if someone has put in exceptional effort for the board then they can have a bit of special consideration from the board owner.

Let's face it would there be this fuss over ANY other member here being banned??

If Theymos will give AM the opportunity to have one of his old accounts reactivated and AM agrees to not break the rules it should be fine. I think though because all rules have some small element of subjectivity only Theymos who made the rules himself should decide if they have been broken in special cases like this. It also nulls any bad feeling any of the mods may or may not have toward him.

 Of course even anonymint will acknowledge he can have outbursts (probably due to poor health and people goading him) that can make him temporarily hard to communicate with unless you can immediately comprehend what he is trying to explain and agree. You see that is not the fault of anonymint or the person that does not agree really... they to the best of their ability believe they are correct but it is usually because they don't understand it to a deep enough level. Frustrating to both sides.

I don't understand most of what he says but do rely on the conclusions he often comes to. When I see sys dev, dinofelis  smooth and so many other obviously smart people engaging him over and over and even asking his opinion then it is all a "normal" person can do to form an opinion his level of expertise. The very best bit about anonymint was.... that no other members that had the skillset would evaluate a design then publish their opinion with an explanation of every point made 100% FOR FREE for everyone to see. Most that were able to evaluate new designs keep this secret for their own benefit only.

. That is just part of anonymint and if someone is contributing  A LOT for 90% of their time here and 10% blows of some frustration and steam I think the onus is on others to just accept this or not engage him at all. It is their choice not really an issue for mods unless what he says breaks the forum rules. Mostly it is just harsh criticism (that may be true but not expressed within the usual confines of forum etiquette) on the other hand some members have said some really nasty evil stuff to him over the years.

The mods are just doing their job as they thought best so not being critical of those mods either.

I am not commenting on the past now this is just going forward.

Seems fair from all sides then.

Sometimes extremely focused people have personalities that may seem extreme to "normal" folks. However, if you want to benefit from their extreme focus you have to take a little rough with the smooth as they say.

This board is the best place on the net imho and that is in part to the free speech and lack of moderation. Theymos is operating a great board here and I like his style he has a good balance and seems quite fair. Sometimes delegation of tasks works great and has to. Then again sometimes direct intervention is the most economical and fruitful way.

I would think a nice resolution here could work out well going forward for everyone.