Do you yourself not often work in substantial,

[QUOTE=Steven Sweeney] . . . Scale is a legitimate element in expression of an idea . . .

Posts were deleted in their authors' discretion, and not by the Forum administrators. It does sometimes create jarring leaps from one sentiment to the next, if the excised materials do not appear as "copied" text in other posts for reference. But it remains the authors' prerogative to reconsider and delete if so desired.

So it goes.

[Later note: Of course, deleting a post from the Forum doesn't delete it from the emailed versions received by members upon the initial posting, so a deletion never completely wipes the slate clean.]

Thanks for that, Steven. Heck, I didn't even know I could "recant" and get away with it !

There are all manner of indulgences and dispensations available here. You just have to pull the right lever in the "Edit" mode. Vote early and often.

And, by the way, members can't edit other members' posts, so no conspiratorial or anarchic mischief need be feared.

Incidentally, the software that runs sites such as this is almost universally equipped with an audit feature that provides an electronic record for the benefit of the site's owner, showing who did what, where, and when. This can be a saving feature, if something done inadvertently needs to be undone, but it also would prevent, say, someone from deleting his or her own posts and then lodging a successful censorship protest about same. Not that anyone would, mind you.

Fearsome and wonderful, this Internet business.

Yep, and for the most part beyond the ken of this guy whose idea of high-tech is pushing colored mud around with animal hair on a stick . . . :)