I think the consistent shutting down of anti-dealer threads was proof enough. Hoping we can move past that mentality and maintain an open conversation, even if it reflects poorly on dealers.
You can remove/time out or take other actions against a poster not obeying the rules. Look at other communities where every thread is heavily moderated (science for instance) where entire exchanges are nuked. The problem is that every legitimate thread that was anti-dealer became locked within hours for ‘off topic’ or ‘rule breaking’. It 100% stifled the conversation, intended or not.
Also it was no coincidence several of the mods were in those same threads attempting to refute or sow discourse against the dealer hate.
Edit: Several of the mods were also mods/posters in askcarsales. So yes, they were getting paid by dealers...or else they were wildly misrepresenting themselves.