Greg,
As you know, this site is intended to be "self moderated", any "moderation" per se is by exception and after the event.
Ironically I have moved this thread out of the 8cyl Bristol Cars forum because it was completely off topic
As for the sentiment of your post, I agree with you, up to a point. I am happy to see vigorous debate and differing opinions in the forums which are on topic. However, when things get
really heated, personal and/or contentious, it can be damaging and often results in some people leaving the forum.
Moving away from instant email notifications should help lessen the impact of such threads.
I also appreciate that discussion threads can drift off topic accidentally, but I do not believe there is any justification for completely nonsensical posts which have no relation to the thread whatsoever, or new threads which have nothing to do with the forum they are posted in.