Okay.. are contestants literally forbidden from posting in their own threads and directly acknowledging responses from now on?
If not, then why on earth would you delete his offending post, thus leaving other contestants (in this and future years) in the dark concerning what does and doesn't cross the line? Isn't that the point of putting your foot down- to show that the line exists and will be enforced?
Hydro, my take on it, was that upthread Clark was basically saying that ANY thing other than some version of "thank you, please vote for me, I'll answer questions about it after voting" is not allowed.
They said they removed it basically to keep folks from going back and trying to 'gauge' where that line might exist, and argue about it if it later became an issue again. It seemed like they want reinforce to the competitors that the line is the simple thank you and nothing more.
Of course, this is just my interpretation of what has been said in the thread.
Honestly, I think even the "thanks, vote for me" posts aren't fair in a competition where they're all forum posts. It bumps the thread to the top, which draws more attention to it. It's a trick used commonly in contests similar to this one and it does have an effect. I tend to think that the contestants shouldn't be allowed to comment on their posts at all until after voting is closed.
I do have to say that I feel the rules are very unclear. Or if they were clear, they were crossed too many times without action. It has been said that many warnings were given, but offended posts were removed, which makes it really hard for other contestants to see where the line is drawn without being on a certain thread at the right time. If multiple warnings are going to be given it needs to be individual-- it cannot be the responsibility of the contestant to be aware of every action of the others.
If they're looking for "professionals" (which I think people are using the term wrong as professional implies making money) they need to treat them as such. One warning tops, then disqualification. But these offending posts need to be PUBLIC so contestants can see clearly what isn't acceptable.
My two cents.