I tend towards the Arranroots and indiapaleale view of this issue.
As I have said before, there are many sites on the net where you can have no-hold-barred political discussions, but in my view rootschat is NOT that place. The atmosphere is mainly terrific, and members are SO helpful. I have found some threads upsetting and offensive, and I use the word advisedly. The offensive ones have assumed a world-view very different to my own, I can live with that, but have also contained propaganda and incorrect facts to back up their arguments. Some of these have been from sources which have been discredited or are known to be funded by partisan and biased interest groups. So what do I do? Correct/question the data and get involved in an acrimonious argument? Or just ignore the discussion and allow rootschat to become a medium for propounding misinformation? Nowadays I try not read anything posted in "Lighter Side" for this reason, but thereby miss much that is interesting.
The family analogy does not hold. If we are having a family party to celebrate Aunt Agnes' 100th, we do not have in-depth discussions about political issues because some of us hold opposing views, and in fact have stood for Parliament/campaigned on opposite sides of some issues. We do not want to detract from the reason for the occasion and upset the other guests, some of whom are ranged on our sides, and some of whom do not care. We may well talk these topics over between ourselves in the Pub, or at each others' houses. But we do not try to drag everyone in to our arguments.
I belong to another message board partly devoted to controversial topics, and I know when I am on there I can be "flamed" and that I have to hold my ground and argue my case coherently and with proper citations of backup facts which I use. This is quite a different experience to Rootschat, and populated by experienced campaigners with differing viewpoints and agendas.
I find that the Mods do a great job. I am only too happy that they delete inappropriate threads. The Ts & Cs allow the Mods to do what they think appropriate, and I hope they continue to do so. As for explaining or PMing about what they have done, this seems to be a time-consuming proposal which will lead to more ill-feeling and argument. Why not just leave politics and controversy out of Rootschat? Why not keep it as a Family History site? Fine, in the Lighter Side, folk can post about their own experiences, but please can we keep it more like Aunt Agnes' birthday party and less like the saloon bar of the Rabid Duck?