[Adam]

Here's a handy way to improve the value of the forums.

Instead of telling someone that they are off topic (which, by the way, happens to be off topic as well), report the post. In this case, the moderating team would have a very hard time deleting Markus's replies, because of how many people have responded to it, and now being on/off topic is part of the overall topic of this thread (how to improve the forums) which makes Markus's post, as well as Dave's post (to which Markus was replying, and was the first case of being off topic) a necessary part of this thread.

If it were reported, we would have been able to talk Markus into either editing his post, or we would have been able to delete it.

This only applies to posts that are obviously off topic, though. If someone is debating, and you don't like that person's points, then it probably will not be deleted. To improve the quality of the forums in those cases, either ignore the post, or give constructive feedback. Moderation does not mean censorship, it means being able to resolve problems in the most effective manner for every group involved.