I was wondering how long it would take. I honestly think this forum is a little under-moderated, and that particular thread should have been closed down a long time ago, when it could have been locked without being deleted.
I know it's a bit hard to draw the line, and it does create a lot of censorship debates, but the rules about insulting other forum members were breached early in that thread, and the insults escalated until it was just out of control at the end (and I was an offender).
But on the other hand the free-form nature of the forum is also encouraging. I suppose it really is hard to draw that line.