I hope this is the correct place for feedback about the Official Forums. Please excuse me if it is not.

There are a couple of changes I would like to offer as suggestions.

We already have different tiers of ability on the forum with regard to the number of posts allowed. I'd like to see an additional tier added to reflect the length of time a forum poster has been contributing and allowing more posts per day than the current maximum. I've been on the same number of posts per day for a long time now and frequently run out of posts when discussing a range of different topis, it would be great to have a few more posts available so I don't suddenly fall silent in the course of a discussion because of "no more posts".

Also, with regard to forum discipline. I want to stress that I am not criticizing forum moderation or admin, I am merely suggesting a possible change to the way forum discipline is applied. I think it would be very useful to have an additional middle ground tier of suspension. At the moment it seems as though posters can be given a permanent ban for mildly abrasive language which is the same level of discipline as someone being permanently band for using outrageous and obscene language, or harassing others on the forum.

The punishment does not always fit the crime making permanent bans a very blunt tool. I know of several occasions where posters have been permanently banned for what appears to have been a minor offense, while others continually get away with the most rowdy, aggressive and often offensive conduct with seeming immunity to consequence.

That kind of contrast raises questions in people's mind about the fairness of the policy in place. I think adding an additional tier short of a permanent ban would allow forum moderation to hand out stiff penalties without resorting to a permanent ban, and that would ultimately improve the feeling of fairness within the system.