It seems to me like people automatically think OT = politics and flamewars. I am not afraid that the Poser forum woud de-evolve into a mudpit just because we allowed something like "Beware of this new virus" or "have you all seen my cute new kitty".

The problem with banning "controversial" posts is how you decide what's controversial and what's not. Remember when Bungle1 posted an image of his George Bush M3 character? That thread turned political pretty fast. Ditto the thread about that crucifixion pic in the gallery, which was originally posted only because someone liked it and wanted other people to see it.

How about allowing short personal OT posts here, but asking people to take long or controversial threads to an OT forum? I loved the OT forum, to tell you the truth. Spent more time there than here. Discussion was sometimes heated, but there generally weren't actual flamewars. I could see how some would think there were, if they didn't know the principles; some of the regs had a habit of posting satirical rants that might be taken for serious. Really, I hung out there for quite a while, it things went smoothly with no moderation that I ever noticed. It was only a short period where things got a bit rocky. (Due mainly to the appearance of a particularly...um...controversial poster. Let's just say he later managed to get himself banned from PoserPros' Chicken Coop in about a week.)

Anyway, eliminating the OT forum struck me as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. After all, we "real diehard flamers and looneys" have to hang out somewhere. ;-)