The moderators here at the Treehouse would like to cover some basic issues with our Treepers, new and old. Hopefully we can clear the air, cut down on confusion, and answer questions and concerns.
First of all, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to all of you who have struggled through the chaos of the last month with us. We have had growing pains, to say the least. It will get better from here on out, and we thank you for your patience.
The trial is over, and we do not have a Zimmerman/Martin open thread, and have no plans for one. We will continue to cover specific news stories related to the trial and it’s aftermath as they arise. The daily Open Thread has always been a part of the Tree, and we intend to keep it free and clear of Zimmerman/Martin discussion. All are welcome to join us there, with news items that strike your fancy, or to enjoy the wit and humor of our regulars. WeeWeed usually starts us out in the morning with coffee and lots and lots of bacon. Puddy often works third shift and keeps the late night crowd laughing. On Fridays we open the bar (a little earlier every week, I think) and Tilda mans the jukebox, often in cahoots with Tex and cohorts. We hope those of you who intend to stick around for awhile will join the fun.
We (mods) were literally swamped with comments for weeks, and we tried very hard to keep the threads on track, focused, and clean. We allow no profanity, no off color jokes, and no cruel and vicious comments or attacks. We could not always keep everything to these standards in the last weeks, we just could not keep up. Now is the time to get back to our old standards, and really clean the place up. If your comments do not meet these basic, reasonable, minimum standards, they will be deleted. If it happens again, you will be moderated, and we don’t have time to play that game, so some people have been banned for continued abuse, and that is going to be an ongoing policy. We have found that usually second and third chances don’t work.
Finally, until further notice, we have suspended approving new commenters. Most are insulting or profane, trying to be cute at someone’s expense, or hoping to get a leg in the door to troll. We simply have to choose to do good with the assets we have rather than spreading ourselves too thin and losing our identity.

Thanks again to all our wonderful contributors. We love your wit, your wisdom and your humor. This Tree has spread her roots deep and her branches wide.