Not a moderator note (I'm not a moderator):
I've been on this forum for a couple of years now and I haven't seen any real tendency to over-moderate. I've been on forums where there is over-moderation (not many, and on those I just agree with the moderator or don't post--mostly I don't post and wonder why the moderator just didn't write a blog), or not enough moderation (too many to count, and most posts consist of personal attacks). In my opinion, TMC Mods do a good job of keeping the threads on topic and moving the more offensive posts to snippiness. Do I agree 100% with everything they do? No, but so what? Anytime there is more than one person involved there are going to be disagreements. If there are so many that it becomes a problem, I just don't visit the site anymore.
I agree with the Mods that if a member only posts negative items, it tends to appear that they have an agenda--particularly if it's in the form of "I heard...so there must be a problem" (trolling), the post is about something that likely has multiple threads and hundreds of posts already (dead horse syndrome), and the poster has no history or only a negative history (it's different if the poster has made constructive posts in the past).
Posts in the form of "My car did...", "Can you explain...", "Why does/doesn't Tesla...", "I'm considering but..." tend to be constructive. There is no shortage of complaints about various features of the car--or lack thereof--on TMC, although sometimes they seem to take the form of the complaint of the week and get rather tedious--especially as Tesla often, but not always, comes through. There are also success stories. It seems like a pretty good balance to me.
The thing to know about forums is that there are no vocal tones nor body language to allow subtle meanings to come through--only the written text (emotocons only go so far). So something that's said in person might sound just fine, but when the same words are read, there can be a totally different message read then what the poster intended. I believe this accounts for the majority of disagreements, and even if they aren't, I try to look at them as if the problem is with my interpretation of what was written. No need to stress out over them, as I can get all the stress I want at work.
What I want out of this forum:
1. Owner experiences (good bad) with service, traveling, installation and anything else that has anything to do with owning or driving a Tesla.
2. Tips and tricks.
3. Modifications and third party items.
4. Dialogue with other owners.
5. New features with the cars, website, events, etc.
6. Information about Tesla as a company (SpaceX and Solar City too).
7. Supplements to the official communication (of which there isn't nearly enough).
What I don't want out of this forum:
1. Complaints about the car from non-owners (aka trolling--I can visit Jalopnic or Fox if I want to read those).
2. Personal attacks.
3. Politics (Yeah, I'm guilty of posting a few of these).
