I didn't think I should make any comment on this.. But I've decided against it.

Look at my post count.
...Now figure that there are other people around here with triple.. quad.. even more than that.. Who haven't even been here as long... Why? Pointless posts and general spamming of no actual purpose...
Just a thought, if OT was more interesting, it wouldn't be this way.
Since I never gained access to SOT, I cannot really compare regular OT to it, but, I do rarely even bother looking in here any more, since most of the material is just spam games, idiocy, and very little juicy discussion. When there is it gets banned.
But, there issue is that if politics/religion etc were allowed topics, then the majority of fools will overall the minority of real discussion/debating posting people, with being offended, angry, or just generally stupid as to what is being discussed, and then they complain, and then the topics just get banned again. It sucks.

Regarding red rep, I am disappointed that it has gone, even though I never even got the opportunity to use it, because I felt that it actually allowed for the outlet of frustration/anger/dislike for someone in a more private, less abrasive manner. It also gave normal members some sort of power/say in what other members are.. But, the rep system is disposable anyway, and actually gives little regard to any members "reputation" , or worth(well, sometimes it actually shows a correct gauge.. But i've seen a lot of at lot of cases where it doesn't)

I'm sad that the point in which I finally ended up actively joining the forums, was the point at which it is quavering on the floor, dying of an essentially incurable disease.