Homeless you've stated things reasonably well there. It comes back always and often to the question of balance. People clearly want to talk and want to talk about a variety of stuff, including music. Now and again things get out of whack, the BS, showoff posts and filler fluff seems to be all over everything and people get pissed off at having to pull on the hipwaders just get a simple answer. That being said flame posts are not a good way to shift the balance back again. Responding to flame posts just piles things higher and deeper. However when things are out of balance its hard to know what else to do. Simply starting more music related threads doesn't always work amongst compulsive posters, it just gives them another place to post. Long involved arguments about whether anything and everything is relevant please nobody but seem simply to confirm people in their idiosyncratic likes and dislikes. Perhaps the best response when everything seems to be going off the rails is a polite reposting of some general guidelines about posting. These are just some ideas about what could be said or asked of posters.

THINK before you post.

Is it relevant to the opening posting? If not, is it necessary to post? Has what you want to say already been said?

BS threads are clearly marked, would what you want to say be better said and understood in one of those?

Is what you are saying targetted to most mudcatters, or only to one or two special ones? You can send personal messages if you wish, that might be a better idea.