"...in need of control and in fear of "chaos," more top-down interventions have been applied. and that's an often-predictable shame. moreover, it probably is harmful to the commerical interests of the site..." Yup. When you allow people to be themselves, you often get what appears to be chaos. But past experience has shown that if you leave things alone, the "flap of the day" tends to run its course and things calm down and get back to "normal" in fairly short order. Attempting to squelch normal human behavior and reactions just makes things worse, extends the life of the upheaval and generally makes a mess of things.