Sure, quick intervention by the MODs to rid the forum of annoying trolls goes a long way in making it a more viable forum, but I think that over the years I've seen the membership change quite a bit with the exception of a core of people.

And I know that in the past the forums were overrun by trolls and people who were going through difficult times and who were expressing themselves online.  And kicking someone off a forum was always difficult because so many people complained about free speech.  Well, today the forums do ban people like Sanford because it just gets to be too much and too dominating.

I think that stopping flame wars (and I admit I've been in some) is a good thing for the forum.

And I think that keeping off-topic Dawkins discussions off the forum is another good thing.