They have lives outside of work and the interwebs?

The number who actively post may be lower than some prefer...but a massive percentage of the pilot group reads it. Would improving signal-to-noise encourage more active participation/posting? Maybe, maybe not. I'm all for more wheat/less chaff but all I can do to that end is participate the way I would prefer others to. I also know with 3400+ opinions I'm probably not gonna change a lot of habits.

Legitimate questions get answered and work-related topics get discussed on the B&G every day without the overly political bunch jumping into those threads, but like much of the internet (this APC thread is a fantastic example) the original subject often gets derailed on side tangets. Also, some members seem to prefer crowdsourced answers from a forum rather than utilizing the IPA leadership/staff/committee resources that are available to them with far more knowledge than crewroom lawyers.

Again, I can take or leave a block feature...not asking for it but don't care if it happens...I personally find staying out of political threads increases the signal-to-noise ration significantly.

YMMV, caveat emptor, etc etc