I've read 292 posts on this thread and this has been one of the better threads on FR and relatively free of insults and with lots of insightful comments.
My suggestions for improving FR are to have the moderators review each article before it is posted. There are too many insipid articles from bizarre sources and too many articles that are near duplications and too many single issue zealots who think that posting article after article will help make their point.
Today, I think I've seen 20 threads about rudy leading mccain in a poll. They were not dups but they all said the same thing.
Next, you could put a limit of say 50 posts a day for each poster, or you could limit some posters who are post too much crap. It would mean fewer and hopefully more substantial posts instead of 1 line posts like, "you are a bot"
If you only get 50 posts, you might actually want to say something meaningful. Plus, with limited posting, you might want to read more and yell less and that would be good as I find too many posters don't bother reading the article.
What I would like enforced is the rule against ad hominem attacks. I would like that enforced not only for those who post but also a prohibition against ad homnem attacks against candidates.
Much of the rancor has been stirred up because people call a candidate or politician a name or make some wild-eyed accusation, and then that candidate's supporters take offense and retaliate.
It does not advance the discussion to call Romney a RINO liberal, Guiliani an abortionist, Hunter a knuckle-dragger, etc. All it does is cause more ill-will.
I also would suggest that attacking the President doesn't help things. He is making decisions based on the information HE has, not the opinions of people on the internet. Name-calling only serves to alienate his supporters and embolden the left, who think that comments like that mean that they can win with their divisive strategy.
To my mind if you can't criticize without name-calling or promoting an alternative idea, you really belong somewhere else.