Hi!
Troodon: Well, the ban statement did sound rather antagonizing. Especially since Toady One has a reputation for being rather lenient (I could think of one or two members that would probably have gotten an IP ban by now on other forums who are still here). By pointing out that an admin can ban you, it seems as if you expected the admin to be very willing to ban people.
Anyhow, your last post kind of puts things in a perspective - you point out that you have an approach different from what Toady One is taking. There is nothing wrong with that and you are welcome to have that opinion. You said yourself that Impaler went beyond such a legitimate opinion, thus warranting the heavy-handed reaction.
People here are making a lot of suggestions and interface improvements are very commonly discussed here, going in many directions. Toady One usually allows us to talk about such things, even when it seems obvious that he is not planning to go there any time soon (e.g. the feces threads). Thus, I, and probably a lot of other people, were rather surprised that Toady One was forced to ban someone.
As for your gaming experience, I can only point out that it is a universal thing - for instance, look a few pages beforehand, there we had voices talking about the good potential of hybrid input systems. In my gaming experience, hybrids are absolutely unplayable and a nightmare. I can get along with a mouse-driven game and I can get along with a keyboard driven game, but a game that requires mouse and keyboard to be used simultaneous is nothing I can get along with. There are simply different types of gamers with different needs. And as there are many people who find the current interface unplayable, there are also many people who get along pretty well with the interface (mind you, bugs are not part of the interface issue!). My point is that the numbers game is quite silly.
Finally, I have to admit that I do not really understand your position towards Impaler. On the one hand, you say that you doubt he will produce any useful results, on the other hand, you decide to go out of your way to support him, even though he has acted in an inappropriate manner and thus has alienated a lot of people here. So, I don't see any benefit for you but only a waste of effort plus a danger of getting grouped together with a person who shows a decisive lack of respect and probably also a lack of judgment.
Deathworks