"I wonder what it is that makes discussions on 3D software so heated or makes personal views so intense..."

I put it down to boredom for the most part.  There's nothing worse than a quiet forum, and it's clear that threads with a heated debate in progress will get the most views.  I think it depends on how an individual sees a forum that determines their behaviour on it.

For some it's like a second home (a second family even), and I suppose those are the ones who don't enjoy a good heated debate because I suppose they might see it as a threat to the quality of the community.

For others, a forum is mainly a way to kill time (and boredom), so a heated debate about the software they use is more attractive to them than going somewhere else.  That also happens to be my personal take on it, I'm only here when I have nothing better to do (and that's far more than I'd like), but heated debates never bother me. 

It's so boring here sometimes that I actually log in, look at the Poser forum Index and log out again.  The only time it's worth staying is if there's something genuinely useful to look at or there's a heated debate going on.  There's really only a handful of people here who's threads I bother to look at just because of the person who's started the thread.

When I choose to read a thread I do so by one or two criteria:

• Thread Title
• Thread Authour

I just glance at the index and make my decision.  For example I'll always look at Clarkie's and RorrKonn's threads because they have a gift for starting threads which you just know are going to start a shit-storm (and that's a good thing).  I say thumbs-up to them because they are the sort of people who keep me interested in the forum.  I might die of boredom otherwise.  I always look at Vilters' threads because he's knowlegable in low-poly and figure engineering.  I always look at aRtBee's and Baggins' threads because of the tech stuff posted there, stuff that just doesn't get into manuals (but should).

So there's different reasons I bother here, but if any of those aspects were taken away, I think I'd eventually stop logging-in due to mind-numbing boredom.  I'm not saying that those people are the only contributors worth reading, but what I am saying is that those appear (to me at least) to be the backbone of what the community here currently is - they sort of hold it together in their own ways.

Which brings me to answer Shane's question regarding what I'd like to see more of:

It's simple, I'd like to see more power in the mods hands to allow debates to continue to a more heated level than they currently are, because like it or not, those are the ones that generate the views and therefore keep people logged-in.  I don't know whether my reasons for visiting the forum are typical (boredom mainly), but if this place starts turning into some sickly-sweet herd of 'dogooder' minions, I think people will start dropping off the radar because there's nothing worse than a boring, humourless, debateless forum.