You yourself suggested "a severe warning" as a possible measure; what makes you think the other party did not get exactly that? I have no idea whether or not they did, but it's certainly possible. Keep in mind that warnings are given in private; only the player receiving them knows about it (this is explained somewhere in the wiki or the reporting process; let me know if you need the actual link and want to see for yourself).
To the best of my knowledge, a one-day suspension (which somebody claimed you got) is the smallest actual penalty possible... so in a way it's "the next thing" after a "severe warning".
From what I can tell, your issues seems to be with the fact that you got into a fight with somebody and both of you did not get the same punishment. If it makes you feel better, for all we can tell, maybe you actually got almost the same severity of punishment.
Further, you seem to confuse people getting a slap on the wrist with Fizzer taking sides. Now, I'm not Fizzer and I can't speak on his behalf, but for me personally, let's say two people are arguing: - Person A is perfectly civil in explaining that 1+1=3 - Person B is yelling and cursing that "no you [..] 1+1=2, are you [..] [..]!?" - They both get annoyed with the argument and they both report the other person If it were up to me I'd say the report against Person A is bogus (he's wrong, but he's not breaking any rules), whereas Person B would get a warning (doesn't matter he's right; he's still cursing and insulting another player).
My reason for not liking your second suggestion (allowing the thread starter to kill a thread) is that I'm a proponent of equality. If you and I have a debate, why would you (but not me) have the power to decide "meh, whatever, *poof*", just because you happen to have made the first post?
Allowing a person to delete a thread effectively lets them delete another person's posts, that's a really bad idea if you'd ask me. Even if you want to give the thread starter a way to (if, rather bluntly) prevent a flame war from escalating even further, I'd strongly suggest sticking to simply locking a thread, instead of an outright delete.
And in general, to multiple people who posted in this thread:
Seriously people, cut it out with the personal attacks, threats, implications you're going to visit somebody IRL, contact informations and all that kind of nonsense. It's not only a violation of the rules, it's also incredibly immature.
Suggestion: Better "Report" System etc.: 2015-04-10 02:54:36
