Airing Personal Grievances

This past week I have had to personally step in and moderate two separate threads that got out of control due to heated arguments and bad feelings. As site owner of this forum, I don't have the luxury of taking sides. So in the interest of ALL parties and ALL members of this forum, I'm going to lay it on the line:

If anyone has a problem with someone else's post - TAKE IT UP WITH THEM PERSONALLY - whether it be via PM, email, chat, phone call, or however you want to contact them. But don't use this forum to bicker about who's joking, not joking, who may or may not be misunderstood, etc. This isn't the place for it.

If you're not comfortable with personally airing your grievances with the person or persons involved, then contact either myself or a moderator and we'll contact them on your behalf. I'd much rather you do that than for me to come onto this forum to find out things have publically gotten out of control before I've even had a chance to step in and do something.

I hate to make threads invisible, delete posts and/or discipline members, but if this trend continues, I will be forced to take action in that direction. Leniency doesn't equate anarchy on this forum. I've given a bit of free rein in the past when it comes to voicing one's opinion, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just let things run rampant around here.

If anyone has any issues with this post, PM me privately to discuss.