I have been watching this thread since it first popped up, and I must say, I'm quite impressed with how everything played out. I was instantly reminded of the debate that took place before, not long before Zach became a mod, when everybody jumped on the "the forums are crap! We need better moderation!" bandwagon; thankfully, this thread didn't degrade nearly as much as the previous one (JB really jumped in quite swiftly with this one, and handled it very well).
I think the previous argument still stands...if we, as a community, band together to take care of the forums we populate, then all (read: most) should be well. It's a forum that's based around its members; you really get what you give.
There are times when a thread gets out of control...the common assumption is that we should fiercely push our position onto others (after all, we are right, and they are wrong), despite the fact that the back-and-forth "debate" (if you can call it that) quickly spirals out of control into a shouting match. The thought of having an adult conversation seems to disappear quickly when the "other" person starts arguing in a childish manner--for some reason, this means we must abandon all reason and drop to their level of argument (because it's obviously impossible to just drop the issue).
Taking a step back and letting the other person believe what they want, once you have posted your thoughts on the subject, rarely seems to be the solution anybody takes. Yet, we complain about the behaviour of others here on the forum, and even go so far as to ask for more moderation. What about self-moderation? What about growing up, and acting like an adult? I'd be more on board for that type of moderation, as apposed to adding yet another member to the T11 moderation team (which is doing a fine job as it is).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we stop posting so much garbage and acting like babies here on the forum, we'll need less babysitters cleaning up after us, as the babysitters we have now are doing a good enough job as it is (especially considering the way so many forum members act).