What I'm getting at is that at the moment the forums are so lax that they are full of rubbish. Just to give one example: recently that guy Cheetersallover (or whatever he calls himself now) was allowed to make a series of tiresome, attention-seeking threads whining about the moderators. That should have been stopped in the beginning. But because everything is so lax here, he could get away with it. So it just encourages him (and others who notice it) to do more of the same in the future.
If the rules were tightened up and pre-moderation were introduced, that sort of dross would be nipped in the bud.
Have staff make me a mod. I might only last five minutes, but it would be a memorable five minutes...
i'd be for that, and i bet many others would, too.
I have suggested that off topic threads be removed from the "Most Recent" and "Hot Topics" categories many times.
They have been, from Most Recent, for a long time now.
In this case, though, a half measure is as good as none. If clicking Hot Topics stills show AMA topics and counting threads, then they are going to get traffic.