The Off-Topic section I think is a good idea, entertaining, but it does attract the wrong people to ET imo. Many posters in this section appear to have very radical thinking, often posting inflamatory comments and opinions which appear blatantly false. One thing I've noticed, the most prolific posters in the Off-Topic section never post (or very rarely) anything about trading, in other words, they are using ET to vent which in my opinion is against the true nature of what ET was created for. Most of these guys I have blocked or ignored, they are not here to be constructive or contributing to the wellbeing of trading. Again, my opinion only, but I think its about time ET put a clamp down on some of these radicals who can freely wander onto ET and use it as a hobby horse for purely non trading related activity.
But to be serious, mousey, pretty much every forum out there has an off-topic sub-section, and occasionally one of those folks who "never or very rarely posts about trading" might actually come over to the light side and engage in the topical nature of ET. You can't really clamp down on the potential of that.
The problem could be partially solved, not by disallowing the posts, but by not including any "Community Lounge" threads under the "New Posts" banner. There is one other forum site that I visit, where off topic threads just don't appear for everyone to see. You have to go searching for them. The posts don't appear on the front page along with all the relevant trading / investment threads. KH