There is a double standard, but it's not driven by moderators, it's driven by popularity. HCP is popular, because he does have a lot of good traits and because he's been here a long time. Because he's popular, people rally to his defense against perceived slights, even when the things those defenders criticize in his detractors (thin skin) is a weakness of HCP's too (in certain aspects--specifically when he's criticized as annoying or a bad influence on the forum).
Double-standards driven by popularity are never going to go away, so you just have to accept it. Internet forums and discussion areas, going back to AOL chat rooms and USENET, are clique-ish by nature. You're never going to "win" a meta-argument (an argument about whether so-and-so is a good or bad poster or an annoying poster or similar things) against a more popular board member--it's best to just ignore the people you don't like and stick to discussing topics not poster-related.
Sorry for making any kind of analysis of another poster (HCP), but since this topic never ever seems to go away, I figured I'd address it once. I like HCP fine. He's solidly in the top 100 posters on this site and I say that without hesitation or equivocation. We should stop talking about other posters, positively or negatively. That won't happen, though. Have a great evening and, as dviss suggests, keep the people dealing with greater issues in your mind for a sense of perspective. It helps.
