Here's something else I want to ask people's thoughts about. When reading a thread, and you feel that someone in some way has crossed a line, either by being too off-topic, or by being hurtful or cranky, or something else that doesn't feel quite okay to you personally, do you ever PM that person yourself to let them know your impression of their posts?
I have done this, even before I was an admin. I never meant it harshly, but more as an opportunity to let them know their post's effect on me. Some people have responded very good-naturedly, some have responded as though I had slapped them. Now that I'm an admin, I actually feel less free to write those sorts of PMs to people, because even though I overtly tell them I'm not coming from an admin perspective, but just as myself, I've seen that some people see me as an authority figure trying to squash their freedom to communicate the way they want to.
Anyway, do you ever let people know directly when their posts aren't working for you in some way? I think it's a great thing to do, when done respectfully. What kinds of responses have you gotten?