[The Saucepan Man]

The purpose of the forum rules, to my mind, is primarily to maintain the essential (family friendly) nature of this site: a place for civilised, respectful, friendly and good-humoured discussion and debate, in keeping with the tone of Tolkien's works. That, in my view, is one of this site's greatest strengths. It marks it out from many other sites that I have visited and makes it the sort of place that I enjoy returning to time and time again.

Whether or not someone is bothered by rude, aggressive or insulting behaviour, whether or not they need protecting from it, and whether or not they can "give as good as they get" is not really the issue, as I see it. The fact is that such behaviour is unpleasant and out of keeping with the tone of the site.

In any event, I have never understood why anyone would consider rudeness, personal insults and generally obnoxious behaviour to be a worthwhile endeavour on a site devoted to Tolkien's works. None of these are necessary for, nor indeed, conducive to, constructive, intelligent and witty debate. There's enough unpleasantness in the world (and on other forums) without it needing to be spread around here.