Forums and the people I interact with on forums tend to make me look at myself as a person- there are so many different types of people out there that go and interact on forums that it can be enlightening as well as annoying. On a forum you can never truly win an argument, you cannot truly put forward the intended meaning behind what you are saying and you cannot help it when conversations spawn out of control because someone misread your original post.

The reason I bring this all up is because I have recently been banned from the fourth forum that I have had the pleasure to be a member of- because I am innuendous and offensive. This seems to be a recurring theme actually, and although I am unreliable to you as a reader because I am biased towards my own cause I will try and explain why forums and I tend not to get along.

Forums tend to be 'family friendly' places for what that is worth- on the internet where you get paedophiles roaming, readily available porn and information on all types of drugs and crime, it is apparently a huge ''no-no'' to write a five minute counter argument containing the word 'shit.' It doesn't matter that you've actually put quite a lot of thought into a post- if there is anything remotely rude in there you deserve a huge slap on the wrists.

It then doesn't help that you actually object to being warned- this really puts you in the moderators bad books. They don't like it when you question their authoritaah. They point you in the direction of the forum rules; which are usually a grey area and need the application of common sense; something that a lot of moderators and forum regulars don't seem able to apply.

This leads to the inevitable ban. I am not sayng that all mods are idiots; far from it, but at the end of the day you have to have a certain amount of nerdiness instilled in you before you can wear that treasured 'moderator' badge, and you can like and dislike people just as anyone else can. I have actually been banned for immaturity by a 16 year old moderator- and I'm 27. It is annoying in a way because I think that immaturity is in the eye of the beholder, and if someone is genuinley offended because I mention the word 'genitals' then they are the immature one in my book.

I come away from that 'banned' screen and question whether or not I really am an arsehole. I don't think that I am. I have lots of friends and family that all get along well with me, and in reality I am certainly a lover and not a hater. There are actually no people that I know who I have every really fallen out with. I work hard, I get paid and I enjoy the relationship that I have with my fiance who I've been with for the best part of a decade. I like to watch my brother play football (soccer), I take my labrador on walks twice a day and I bring the neighbours bin in for him on a Friday. I spend my time in forums when work is quiet, or my fiance is out and I have no chores to do. I certainly don't see myself as a troll.

Maybe it is the old 'road rage' scenario where some quiet old lady becomes a real jerk when she has the protection of a tonne of metal and some locked doors around her. Just like she's sort of untouchable in her car, I am untouchable on a forum.

I like to express myself on forums- I usually put a lot of thought into my posts, but I also refuse to be spoken down to by idiots. But as I say- you can't win an argument on a forum.