I agree that having the posters that left due to the bigotry (of all flavors) back is a worthwhile goal. But I just don’t think that those posters who managed to pull an actual Ban (unless at their own request, and even then…) is the same thing.
And while I also feel the rules and rulings are getting better every day (despite my concerns in the revised/reposted rules thread), I’m not sure people who have moved on would be interested in coming back. And even if they do (much to be hoped!) I don’t know how effective it will be in terms of enlivening the place. We skew old and (comparatively) secure, which isn’t a demographic known for it’s edginess.
No, we’re not exactly the “old wo/man yells at cloud” by any means, but this isn’t a place for 20-30 something attitudes and cultures largely. As an example, Cecil’s rebooted column about how the “Baby Boomers” weren’t responsible (he granted involved, but not responsible) for the woes of modern society came off as super smug and unapologetic. And granted, it got a -lot- of pushback from we posters, but I think it would have been rage-inducing to the younger generation.
As for irreverence and gross content, we still do it quite well I think. I mean, I mute thread games, but this morning on my non-logged in kindle LOL’d at this gem:
So that part of the board culture is alive and well.