I feel I must add my bit here.
I agree it has sort of gone downhill a bit, only during the pink shennanagins that went on recently. Other than that it goes through periods of being quiet one min' and very lively the next. That must be the nature of this board. It is contributed by you, the public and depending on how busy/good you lot are then that is how busy/good our forum is.
I note you say threads have been closed when getting lively etc, if you could give an example I will be more than happy to explain why, usually they are closed when they decend into personal attacks or just the same points being made and it is left going around in circles. Also noted the comment about mods should only moderate when things get offensive/racist etc well there is a lot more to it than that. A good example is your answer to jafo saying "Grow up". People don't want to see that, you are now causing jafo to respond and in most cases in this scenario the other person takes the bait and it ends up in a slanging match, something no-one wants to see on any forum. You wonder why posts get binned when you post that kind of comment yourself, luckily, jafo has responded well and that is the end of it.
I sort of agree with you last sentence, to an extent, though about scraps adding a bit of spice but you must remember this may appeal to you but not to others and with the huge readership we have here I find it hard finding a good balance between the two. As for the little hitler remark, well, thats a compliment in my book. I have been called far, far worse than that both here and in my day job too, its like water off a ducks back, you get used to it eventually. Although not nice to read this kind of remark I appreciate that some people are unhappy with things and that is how they feel. Fair enough, everyone has a right to say what they think and in here, they usually do. It helps me as I learn from it and that is no bad thing. Another great thing about this forum is the self-moderation mode that kicks in now and again. If someone steps out of line they will be told so by other members and usually that works quite well.
Jafo has finshed his bit now and said his piece so that should be the end of it. If you want to wind people up then go off to the yahoo forums or something where they have forums just for that purpose alone.
Brl.