Hell, you could start a thread about anything in the music forum here and Coldplay would be brought up eventually.
Oh well, I guess that's just the way it is here - no one can ever have an intelligent discussion concerning music* without it happening.
A) You need to grow a thicker skin.
B) Look. When people are discussing anything intelligently, they're going to rip on relatively unrelated topics for shits and giggles. Nietzsche, for example, goes out of his way in various books to take potshots at other philosophers, for example, "Plato is boring." Shit, man, that's gotta be immature and detracting from intelligent conversation. No, wait, no it doesn't. Intelligent conversations can have insulting asides, cracks at someone else's expense, and so forth. It isn't me who is turning these threads into "OMG COLDPLAY SUCKS." It's those of you who ignore the main purpose of the post (either a concise argument that just happens to use a jab at Coldplay to make a point or to add in a little humor) and make an issue out of the fact that I insulted Coldplay that derail such topics.
I understand that Coldplay's your favorite band. I'm sorry. I really am. It must suck for you to be posting on a music forum with such banal taste in music. We're not all going to suddenly say, for your benefit alone, "Oh damn. Coldplay makes such good music. I am glad that they are your favorite band." If you take a short peek through the "The List" thread Jeph started up, you'll see a startling trend. You're the only person in that thread to call Coldplay "good." 7 people posted, before me, that Coldplay was awful. Shit, the first one to post that Coldplay is awful was Jeph. Man, looks like we can't have an intelligent discussion, now can we, and it's all my fault for being a Chris Martin Hater.
Negative examples are pretty much a necessity in any intelligent discussion. So is accepting that certain viewpoints lack merit, even if it's not politically correct to say that. If I want to discuss biological theory, I'm probably going to discuss the benefits of common descent with naturalistic modification in the explanation for current biodiversity over the Biblical genesis accounts. OHNO HOLY GOD DAMN GEEZ now I'm a Christian-Hater. I certainly can't have an intelligent discussion on evolutionary theory unless I acknowledge that biblical creation is just as valid a viewpoint and thus I must give it all equal time hurgleblurgle. Seriously, I'm a biologist. If I'm going to discuss biology, I'm going to treat creationism like the trash it is. Similarly, I give half a shit about music. Thus, I'm going to treat Coldplay like the trash it is.
Also, nowhere in the rules does it say "don't bash a particular band." It says "Don't bash a genre. Don't bash a person. Don't troll" in a slightly more eloquent way. So stop whining about improper moderation.