In 1986 I ran a computer bulletin board in Dallas. I was about 27 at the time, and consulting the 16 year old who ran a very successful All American BBS. All American is a forum platform that was limited to a single topic thread. I ran C-Net, with different "rooms" similar to the topic areas in this forum.
We were discussing BBS activity, after all we paid our phone bills (oh yes, all of this was at 300 baud or 1200 baud) and we ran these boards for the fun of it and expected there to be activity on them. I asked him how he kept it so busy. His answer?
"When things go slow I open religion or politics as an acceptable topic. When everyone is ready to murder each other or leave the board, I close the topic".
May I recommend you close this thread. I will never be well with accepting the opposing viewpoint and I will not say why or I will further offend Lazy Shooter, and the matter has nothing to do with Lazy Shooter