The majority of people posting answers to questions are not the same ones who chat about nothing and compulsively post, Mick. You are wrong! It's not the number of threads to count, but the number of posts to count to see that the forum is mostly inane idle chatter, insider jokes, ego massaging, and self-righteous insistence that only a certain small number of in-folks are right about what is happening at the forum.
Many of us have said this over and over and you non-musical discussants are just not listening. Moreover, you don't see your own part in causing hard feelings, angry retorts, and the decampment of many interesting folks.
Your smug dismissal and arrogant patronization of Dale Rose is one example of what I refer to when documenting the decline of the forum. Shame on you Mick. I thought you were smarter than that!
The argument that one should ignore these threads is just smoke screening the issue which is being repeatedly brought up. The forum has degenerated into a chat-room with genuine musical discussion at about a quarter of the posts.
As for your notion that the forum is a community, I would say that it a small group of people who massage each other's egos, make in jokes, and otherwise cut up. In a real community meeting people would listen to these criticisms and carefully consider their merit. And the individuals who wield power through mythic personas and charisma, should take much more responsibility for making this a music forum. I for one am a long time participant who has given up and gone guest to get out of the "cult of personality" and to reconsider the amount of input I offer. The forum isn't fun anymore to alot of us Mick. Why won't you listen and think about why this might be true???