This is pretty close...wide open race right now.

Thank you for recognizing my purpose here.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.

This is exactly what my suggestion is about.  The difference is that I let the discussion continue in the section it was started until it is completed, then move either the whole thread or the parts that aren't applicable to the thread itself to a new area if they want to continue the discussion later.

Go back and review how it did.  It was actually a great discussion (though eventually it obviously wasn't related to the subject of the thread).  Take away a couple minor personal attacks and the discussion was exactly what we should want to encourage. 

Nobody said Slash rulz!!!!! or anything stupid like that.  A point was made, a counter point was made, and several posts later, I was being asked if I preferred Shotgun Blues demos to Better demos.  He didn't do it to start an old vs new discussion...it came naturally through the conversation we were having and it was a completely fair question based on where things were headed.

Could it have been handled differently?  Sure, but it's not like either of us went in there to get in an old vs new debate, nor did either of us make a post that didn't fit a logical progression of the thread.  That's where it went.  I didn't take it there, I'm sure he didn't take it there on purpose or maybe he didn't even realize he took it there, but I did respond.

Oh no, I responded...I just chose to delete it because you simply aren't getting it.  You don't want to get it.  Anyhow...

Show me anywhere in any of my posts in this thread (or any other thread for that matter) where I said anything near what you're paraphrasing.  What I said was that fans of the new band make comments that beg for a response from fans that prefer the old band.  Then those comments come (as they should) and of course the conversation takes off from there.  The fans of the new band then cry about it to management and management gets on the person responding instead of the one that started it.  You guys bring it upon yourselves, then bitch when it happens.  WTF is that?

Now management wants fans of the new to be able to say whatever they want in the new section, but ANY response from a fan of the old has to go in a thread off the beaten path that nobody looks at.  How is that free speech?  It sure looks like censorship to me.

You want to make it fair?  Move all BH vs BBF discussions to this thread.  It's the same exact thing, but since management likes BH (and granted there aren't as many of them), those conversations are allowed.  THAT is what pisses me off about it.  If you're going to make a rule, then make a rule and enforce it across the board everywhere.  No BH vs BBF, no Robin vs anybody, no Brain vs Matt Sorum, hell - no old Axl vs new Axl for that matter...nothing.  Either honest discussion is allowed, or it isn't.  I'm all for stopping fans of either version of the band from going into the other sections and starting problems, but if something in that section deserves a response, you can't punish the person that responds or tell them that they have to respond in some other area.  That is not free speech.

Now do you get how rediculous this is?  Either it's all GnR related or it isn't.  I offered a solution that was fair to everybody and the only response I get to that is one from you that has nothing to do with solution?  Thanks a lot for listening objectively.

See?  That is the problem right there.  You're making a completely incorrect assumption.

The people starting the problems are the fans of the new for the most part.  They make inflammatory comments and fans who prefer the old get bent out of shape about it (as they have the right to).  So they respond.  Or someone compares the old to the new in the way the thread dictates it should and a fan of the new gets bent out of shape because of that.  Then fans of the new start crying that someone hijacked their thread.  Get it? 

So the problem isn't the fans that prefer the old band, it's the fans of the new band that get all bent out of shape that someone had the nerve to respond to their inflammatory post.  This "solution" is rewarding the person causing the problem to begin with. 

Let's really look at this closely...how many fans that prefer the old band have gone into new band threads and STARTED the problems?  By STARTED, I mean actually made a post that had nothing to do with the thread in question AND wasn't a response to another post in the thread.  If you're going to start naming people, I'm going to assume you'll also back it up with proof.