I'd like to suggest that a new general topic forum be created to replace Complaint And Debate and Current Events. The banner says "Graphic Artist's Community". If it's just a store now, change the banner. If not, then why shouldn't we have a general forum, a sort of virtual "Community Hall" or whatever? It doesn't have to be Complaint and Debate, but why shouldn't we be able to talk to fellow artists about more than art? These are the people I talk to in the Poser forum and the Bryce forum and etc. etc. We've always been able to before, why is it such a threat now? Because things get too loud and too wild? Fine. Create a new general topic forum, let me be the mod, and I guarantee you that it won't become another C&D. I know Ironbear, and Russ before him, did their best, but that sort of forum needs to be controlled more tightly. There were threads that weren't locked until they had gone far out of control, other threads that should have been locked after the very first post, and certain individuals that just should have been banned from the forum altogether, if not Renderosity itself. You don't have to burn the village to save it. This can work, especially if you start over with a new forum, one where tighter rules are in place from the beginning, instead of taking a "wild west" forum and trying to "civilize" it. Yes, I can go somewhere else, and I guess I'll have to. But I LIKE it here, I like these people (well, most of them...), and I hate seeing this happen, especially for such questionable reasons. As far as Chat goes, I'm just not a Chat person. I prefer forums. Just a personal prejudice. Anyway, that's how I feel. If this is now just a store, let's be honest and drop the "community" facade. And if not, then let's work out a way of having a general topic forum that doesn't resemble a war zone. It can work, and it DOES work at other sites, and it can work here. For whatever it may be worth, I officially volunteer to moderate this theoretical forum. I'm willing to put my money where my big mouth is. I'm willing to do my part for the good of the community. All I need to know is if the community actually exists anymore, or if that's all just a thing of the past, just an empty phrase on a banner... (This message has also been posted in the Forum News forum)