The world wide interweb (thanks Chris Guest) may be at times the bathroom wall of our generation but what makes it great is the ability to open up forums of discussion on every subject. And as Pete says, the users are the content. Defending ourselves only made *us* look bad.

So in this case, for Squires to take down a thread that seems to only be stating an opinion, was a wrong move IMHO and although I don’t read these forums, makes me wonder if it somehow conflicted with Parker’s own feelings on the subject.

I agree with your views on transparency and high threshold of last resort deletions, and it’s a shame the bulk of online wine enthusiasts gather on that particular forum. It’s strange to me it retains the loyalty of so many with the crude censorship that has (it certainly seems) gone down there, and expulsion of voices like those of Alice Feiring or Jeremy Parzen and who knows else..

People who come to Slowtwitch several times a day aren’t really “readers” — they’re members of a community. Of course moderators aren’t perfect and might make errant calls from time to time. But mutual trust has been built over the years and has survived because Slowtwitchers have seen what stays up and what gets pulled (there are far too many comments to screen them before they go live, so if something gets pulled people know about it). That’s a big part of why Slowtwitch is continually interesting and enlightening.