I used to post a lot more. Don't really do it any more. Don't really read much besides things relating to game development. I don't even bother checking the thread I made about the Atamara war because it's nothing but pointless bickering. Nothing of value is said there any more.
One of the biggest issues I see in using the forum for is the magistrates. Every case I've seen there has been nothing but a horrible argument cluster!@#$. Having the cases out in the open does nothing good for the game in my opinion and certainly do not help in keeping the forum(or the game) a pleasant place to visit. You know your accuser, you know the accused, bad blood is bound to happen, and everyone gets to see it. Players get their reputations ruined. It simply does more harm than good to everyone involved. Remove it from the forum 'cause sometimes it's better to be ignorant of what's going on behind the scenes.
The moderation needs to get more aggressive. The people reading the forum need to make use of that report button. The mods can't be everywhere so if you see a message you think is crossing the line, report it. That needs to be encouraged.
The big difference between the forum and the discussion list is that the discussion list was nearly 100% about game development; new features, bugs etc. Maybe the forum needs to go that way too and remove some of the incentives to discuss in-game matters(say, remove locals and if there's a big important even on some island, they can start a thread about in the General Discussion about BM).
