I have found the paddock to be fun but sometimes it gets a bit trying.
My only reservation to voting yes to indexing happens when an opinion turns into a multi-thread barrage.
Without the constant stream we've had recently I would have no reservation at all.
A far as political stance goes I find the forum to be fairly right wing. Most of the time I find the extreme stuff funny but occasionally it does get a bit sad.
There are times when I've found a political issue too big (or perhaps I've had one too many) to stay quiet about so I get where the comments come from.
Some of the light-hearted paddock threads are a great way to cheer up an otherwise dull day and there are some really informative threads there as well.
Maybe all that is needed is somewhere that a moderator can move stuff to if it gets too noisy - the argument/discussion could keep going there but not be quite so in-your-face. It could be added to the bottom of the index as a permanent item with sub-threads - it could be called "Hot Topics" perhaps.
FWIW I have made one PM to Ron on this subject and from memory I suggested a similar thing.
I sent it in response to a suggestion Ron made to resolve an in-thread situation, not as a complaint.
I am absolutely against censorship. Any document that supports it should be burned immediately.
Tim.