Dalek, you are probably jumping the gun. The site isn't going "private". But "discussions" like those brought up have been more disruptive and more immature, doing far more damage to the community than helpful. There is no intention to remove forums like GCC, Cosmos, Addicts, etc. And yes, the "soccer mom" can still ask for help but there is an intention to move towards a more professional view of things. To this end, eliminating the side dramas would be a good thing and focusing more on issues at hand -- whether in-depth systems autoposies or helping the "average Joe Q".

As for the role of moderators a few things to keep in mind: we are human like you and can react to events that happen, sometimes with the same fervor of a regular member and maybe more so in some cases. While we try to stay in the background and tend to let things happen, some things are getting too severe and are turning members off so there may need to be some extra "kindergarten teacher" duties to deal with that.

Does this help clarify it some what?