To put it bluntly, Admin and mods needed a break from the constant trolls. It is hard work to run a non profit forum for members when certain members constantly troll the admin. It makes it a pretty thankless task and makes it doubly hard to feel motivated to do the work the forum needs to run.
It should not be too much to ask to expect people to show each other respect. Free speech comes with responsibility. You can speak freely but you also need to be prepared for the consequences. This is not a free for all venue and never has been. This website is run for the members, and too many members are not feeling comfortable enough to be part of the site in a real way because of trolls behaving badly. The trolls do not own the site. They do not have a RIGHT to troll just because they may or may not donate, or even just because they are a member. Members do however have a right to be treated with respect. Differences of opinion are perfectly fine, but it is how they are argued that is important. It needs to be done with respect.
This forum was originally created by ME. No one else. I created this forum because GOUGHY and LEON wanted a golf forum where they could enjoy chatting about golf without being trolled and without admin being too lax to do anything about it. That was the original vision for this forum and while it has gone of track a little because being admin is a very thankless task, that remains the vision for this site. When you make donations for this site, those donations are for that vision and not an excuse to troll because you feel you can lay claim on the forum. When goughy struggled with the time to admin and moderate the site, ANDYP stepped in to help admin. Andy took on the thankless task and deserves a lot of credit for the work he has put into this forum. Andy also deserves a LOT more respect than he is given. He started as an admin because he loved the site and agreed with it's vision. He uses his free time to maintain, moderate and admin this site and receives little to no thanks, in fact mostly gets the opposite. He deserves as much respect as any other member of this forum. Every member of this forum deserves to be heard without being trolled.
This forum needs to head back towards the original vision to bring Ozgolf back to a place where everyone feels welcome. This will mean that some members are going to be banned permanently. Where necessary I will step in as an impartial admin member to do the heavy lifting. I have a thick hide and have only an interest in the good of this forum and it is with that in mind that I will make decisions. Whining at me will do no good because I am impartial and have no personal agenda except the good of this forum. If people behave like children, their toys will be removed.
I hope to see things improve from here on out and I hope that all Ozgolf members start getting the respect they deserve. If respect is not shown action will be taken. Posts will be removed, bans will be made. We will do what is needed to get this forum back to a friendly place free of trolls.