itrade...I feel it is small-minded to believe that anybody who is negative in their opinions is a "paid basher", and while I wholeheartedly agree that there exists on this board a "perpetually enthusiastic" crowd, I feel that drawing the conclusion that they are "paid pumpers" is equally absurd. You have thought there were paid pumpers here. Why? Because they are consistently positive? Same logic applies. Each side always thinks that "the Others" are paid to undermine the "Truth", as each side respectively defines it. There is no doubt in my mind that both paid touts and paid bashers exist, but I sincerely doubt that any here qualify. JMO of course, and to answer your query, yes, numerous accusations of "basher" have been historically deleted. They were probably just gone before you got to read them.