James,
I am glad things have settled down. Like you, these turkeys who come in here to bash people and knives that they have no experience with bothers me. This holds especially true when it comes to CRK since I consider Chris and Ann friends. At the same time our membership here handles those situations very well for the most part and the truth usually comes out in those threads making the turkey look foolish. (That is why we do not close the threads.)
There have been times when these "attention seekers" have come around and acutally have become members in good standing. We would rather give those types a warning or two than ban them out right, but when the behavior persists we ditch them.
Having been banned from one other forum myself (with the only reason that I can figure out being something I did here), I know other places work differently in banning people. Right or wrong in each individuals eyes, our position here is a little more forgiving as long as there is an effort to participate as a member of the knife community.