Artangel wrote: Smiles and Pats have always posted on the forum. To deny them that would be cruel. It would also take us into a 'Them and Us ' situation. Leave it as it is.

Yes besides I always enjoy to read their posts whether I agree with them or not!
The more the merrier! :P

And where on earth would Mike find mods to do such an ungrateful job as moderating without being paid if you deprive them of participating to topics they are interested in?

Mike wrote: Absolutely YES

It is vital that the people who moderate us are people like us and not 'hidden'.

Agreed when mods are unknown and never post it feels as if they were ghosts!

Of course they should post and I am glad they do. Otherwise it would make them rather robotic - only popping in to smooth the waters....

heatherbelle wrote: Of course they should post and I am glad they do. Otherwise it would make them rather robotic - only popping in to smooth the waters....

Yes Heatherbelle, and then they might get fed up with us and say - why are we doing this for these people who don't want us to join in? .... and drift away.......

ofc they have views to add to the forum ' :)

Nooooooooooo Annie - then we would all run amok! ;) :silly:

Yes it's not a problem on most threads and if they have strong views on a serious topic then just have to be careful how they moderate to keep a reasonable balance.

My experience is that, on the whole, this is what happens.