A good rule of thumb: Once any thread in the "BS" section gets to around 100 posts, if the last 50 are by no more than 4 or 5 people, there is no longer any point in it. It should be dumped, and those people should continue their name-calling by PMs or private email.

A good point - if the thread is rancorous. But I'd hate for the "Old Pocket Watches" thread (for example) to get 'dumped' just for that reason. It serves a small but devoted and very friendly group of people.

Not all such long BS threads are self-destructive wrangling. I just keep well away from those that are.