The Bicker Board

[TomK]

I view Punaweb as Rob's house.  We're all guests, our arguments are sometimes entertaining, but you don't want to be the one at the party that makes a scene, or yells at the host.

I see it more as an open house owned by Rob, but ultimately, it's a forum on the internet. If he wants to chuck people out, that's up to him. Your analogy of "Perhaps we should make offerings to them, or flog ourselves to show our faith?" was amusing, but it is an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill. Debate means offering ideas and opinions and then questioning and arguing over them from both sides.  Unfortunately, what happens here more often than not is that difficult questions get shut down, not by the post being deleted, but by campaigns that discourage even attempting to answer the questions. Just look at Chas' post. A strawman followed by an ad hominem.