LOL! I guess I must be the slowest one on the board, but I have an observation or two.
First of all, I love this site. Sure, it has gone through a few changes. many of the "old timers" were indeed libertarians and some of them were indeed the most aggravating and pompous people I have ever, ever had the mis-pleasure to have a discussion with.
They often shot from the hip and baited arguments so that niceties were thrown aside and often a participant was banned or suspended.
I noted however, over the period of time that BadJoe was so angry about, these types of unruly repartee exchanges had subsided and I came to understand that many of these folks had been banned and were trashing FR on Liberty Post.
Frankly, I was delighted and somber at the same time. Not that they had been banned, but because it came to that.
Also, I have worked for several organizations and it is natural, that over time, people get grandiose ideas of their value and the value of their contributions. For some, perhaps most, this may be in fact true, but this does not guarantee them a captains chair and a seat at the round table.(If you know what I mean)
Sometimes these same folks will take liberties with their assumed importance and try to run the company and insinuate poor performance in others who actually have the authority.
I have seen this hundreds of times during my career. It never happened to me as I never stayed anywhere long enough to get that way. But I understand the phenomenon, and I saw it with my own company that I started.
In closing, I hope there is not too much water under the bridge to keep from mending fences with all concerned. I hope that time will heal wounds and people will realize that the purpose is bigger than personality.
No organization can run perfectly when personalities and egos are involved. And, it takes leadership to overcome those difficulties, sometimes to the detriment of personal relationships.
I think we have that leadership and I admire the fact that anyone would want to subject themselves to the grief voluntarily.