"Working the refs" in politics means pre-emptively attacking the media (or other arbiters of truth) for "bias", to intimidate them and make sure the bias goes the other way. The classic example is D. Trump's relationship with the New York Times - he treats them mean to keep them keen. For example, a good way to make people unwilling to put a stop to your antics is to drop snide accusations that they're doing so as part of a political conspiracy against you. Screaming BIAS and CORRUPTION are quite effective ways for Donald Trump to delegitimise anyone who wants to stop his evil deeds. They're similarly effective in Talossa, sadly.
What we really can't have in Talossa is censorship based on "tone of voice" (eg. if someone starts using cusswords) or political content (as if, for example, a nasty flamewar about the Star Wars sequel trilogy would be hunky-dory). The best thing about the Thunderdome is it's not actually censorship. Free speech goes on unabated - in a forum where it doesn't get in other people's faces. The reason the last Thunderdome stopped working was that the moderators were bullied out of it by people whose posts kept ending up in the Thunderdome, and they didn't like it.
Anyone who characterises having a thread moved to a different subforum as censorship, and to spin persecution fantasies about it, is not only telling on themselves (i.e. revealing their true agenda, which is never to get negative feedback ever), but is cordially advised to grow the hútsch up.