I don't think this forum has really changed all that much in the years I've been here.
In many ways, this place is less inflammatory than it used to be. The biggest change is that there has been a larger crackdown on things like trolling and flaming and OT, and it has been both good and bad. But the way that the forum works has been the same for some time now, and I don't think it'll change without cutting out the vast majority of the posting population, which would eliminate the point for a site like Gamespot to do that.
People have always been focused on the scores and the flops, on trolling for attention, on making favorites threads and matchups and stuff. These threads haven't been being rehashed for months; they've been rehashed for years, just with different games, platforms, fanboy groups, and trolls. The only thing that has changed is that I've realized it. That's just the way this place is, and many of the suggestions won't change it without killing most of it.
I don't like what trolls do, but I like a lot of the OT stuff, and some of my favorite threads ever in SW would probably be considered OT. This isn't because they reward trolling and the grand 'game' of SW, but because they allow posters to get to know each other and respect each other in a way they might not solely through normal discussion. When posters know each other, they post differently than they would when everyone is a stranger. They build a community, and when people feel that they are part of a community, they are less likely to act like idiots.
I really like the intention, and I would like some kind of promised land where everyone posts intelligently about games as much as anybody, but this board won't be where it happens, and your method isn't the way to do it. A minimum poster level (or, at the very least, a minimum topic creator level) would make things better for everyone, though. But if you want to have that fabled board, you'll have to create it yourself. It simply won't happen here.
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