I hope that thread isn't a sign of things to come. I've quite enjoyed this site because it didn't seem to suffer from the negativity and crap that plagues other bike sites.
As you rightly point out until this incident we have had very little negativity on this site and generally people will accept criticism if it is reasonable and constructive.
We have never defined 'Retro' as such, what classifies as retro is a personal thing and we have had some excellent debates on the topic without any slanging matches being started. The whole 'can a DH bike be considered retro' is something that could be discussed for hours and we never look to censor peoples opinions as long as they back them up with reasoned debate..
I don't want to dwell on the individual who was banned, as it was really not about the comments made by others on the thread that caused the thread to be pulled, but the stuff he came out with that will remain between him and the admin of this site..
All i would like to say is that since this incident the reaction of you guys has been exactly as we would expect, disappointed that it happened to a really great forum and lets hope it doesn't happen again.
Cheers