Even the moderated forums I’ve observed or participated in have allowed entry to the inevitable person several notches below the rest in reference points and maturity (and, not infrequently, literacy), lacking any compensating modesty, who basically stopped the show by posting something excruciatingly naive, profoundly dumb, syntactically garbled, or some combination thereof. By tacit agreement, that individual gets to hijack the discussion, with no one — including the moderators — having the courage to intervene. […]