Underhanded? Attack?
No. It was proof to me that he was trying to exert control over subject when it suited his needs. Nobody here gets to control content.
I don't know that it was an attack, it is indeed ironic.
The two situations are very different however. That being opposed to splitting threads, is when they are long, and many things are being discussed.
This situation, was my thread being derailed after one on topic post, from that point forward, every post was moving further form the topic.
I know what the topic I wanted to discuss was. No ranger can determine that something I don't believe is on topic, is in fact on topic. It's MY topic.
Furthermore, most of the initial responses (after the first), were very confrontational and mean-spirited, which makes any thread difficult to keep on track.
The fact TED did exactly what I was complaining about did make me very angry, because I've been angry this continues to happen. The fact it would happen exactly when I was trying to get people to address it, caused me to lose my cool, which I fully admit.