Right. I've known for a long time of the forum phenomenon... the law of physics or fact of nature that dictates that every online forum will eventually develop either abusive moderators or abusive wannabe-moderators, or both.
But my experience on a site that I
used to repect,
Winbeta, was appauling.
Late this afternoon I decided to find out more about Windows XP MCE 2005's TV card and remote compatability. One of the places I decided to look was Winbeta.
I ventured into the forum clearly labeled “Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 discussion” as I could no longer find the “Windows Beta discussion” forum that I was initially looking for.
Upon entering I saw a thread title with one response, “
Running WMP10 on Server 2003,” with the subtitle “Is there a trick to installing it?”
I happened to know a bit about the issue, and decided to see if this guy had found the answer he was looking for.
The text of the post was simple. He stated that Microsoft had not released WMP10 for Server 2003, and that he hadn't found a way to install the XP distribution onto a 2003 system. He then asked if anyone knew of a way, or had any ideas about how to find one.
I think it was a perfectly reasonable question.
The response he got was this:
Windows Server 2003 is as the name indicates a Server OS, why anyone on his right mind would want to run wmp10 on a server OS?
Just dont tell you are one of the ones that thinks Windows Server 2003 is the best for gamming and for use as a desktop OS... spare us the grief, pick an OS for your needs not just because some dumbio told you its the coolest OS to run.
If what you do is gamming, browsing, listen to music etc then you probably have no need for a Server OS 
I found this to be a childish and clearly misguided response. First, the original poster never mentioned running games or using Windows Server as a desktop OS.
So I went to post my answer (with a link to the instructions for installing WMP10 on 2003, and a disclaimer about it being unsupported), when I found that the thread was locked!
What's worse, is that the poorly written and childish response quoted above was made by a moderator! He then closed the message to any further responses.
So I made a post to the forum (which I've been a member of for several years) entitled “Re: Installing WMP10 on 2003.”
I quoted the original post, and then provided a link to the instructions for installing WMP10 on Server 2003/XP 2003 Edition.
I then quoted the moderator's response, and wrote my own reply below that.
I very politely challenged the decision to close the original post. I stated several reasons for wanting to install WMP10 on Server 2003.
I wrote that I run Windows Server 2003 on two of my dev boxes because it is my target platform and developing ASP .NET solutions is made far, far easier when you have access to the Server platform. I then asked, rehtorically, if developers were not allowed to listen to music. Additionatlly, I asked why Microsoft would go through the trouble of including Windows Media Player 9 with Windows Server 2003, if it were never meant to be used.
I further argued that the existence of Windows XP 2003 Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems (which I know may not be the final name) is an example of a client/workstation OS based on the Windows NT 5.2.3790 codebase (a.k.a, Windows Server 2003).
Finally, I asked if this was not in fact the Windows Server 2003 forum, as clearly stated in the title. And I asked where such a discussion might be appropriate.
Within minutes, to my horror, another moderator I'd never heard of had erased my entire post and replaced it with the ever helpful message, “YOU WERE WARNED.“ That message, along with the two responses I received in the short time my thread was open, is visible here:
http://www.winbeta.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=6334
Needless to say, I was furious. I had spent a good 5-10 minutes writing that post and even overcooked my pasta because of the distraction. In other words, that was a part of my day I could never get back. Responding to my thread with something informative would have been welcomed. Privately messaging me about the issue would also have been appropriate. Having considered that, I privately messaged this individual myself, expressing my frustration. According to the site, he has since read that message (I sent it several hours ago), but did not respond. I'm still quite perplexed as to what I was “warned“ about, or how such a thing was done. I've not made a post on Winbeta's forum for weeks, if not months. I suppose he was just confused as to how someone could possibly disagree with his point of view. I mean, he's the moderator, right? And so only his opinion may be discussed?
And so another good forum falls victim to eliteism and immaturity. Winbeta used to be such a good site, too. With the downhill trend of Neowin's news content lately, I'm left wondering where to turn. I never been a big follower of ActiveWin but perhaps hope lies there.
What do you think?