Well, is soft exclusion of people with hobbyhorses a feature, or a bug?
I'm leaning towards "feature" for identity maintenance reasons, but this seems like an issue on which reasonable people could reasonably disagree.
If I make a fine distinction between "soft exclusion of people with hobbyhorses" and "soft exclusion of hobbyhorses" am I reading your comment too closely?
The current system offers individuals a choice: talk about your hobbyhorse and get down voted, or just shut up already! That strikes me as the "soft exclusion of people with hobbyhorses". Having the option to talk about it, under the protection of the fluff tag is more friendly. It is soft inclusion of people.
But if most people read the site with the fluff hidden, the hobbyhorses are mostly invisible. I call that "soft exclusion of hobbyhorses". Is it a feature or a bug? I don't know.
I have never been on a Lesswrong meetup because they tend to take place too far away from my range in terms of distance and budget. Because of that, I don't know if those perform this function to everyone's satisfaction in such a way that what I'm suggesting here doesn't seem worth the effort. I hear that they're a lot of fun, and involve quite a bit of silliness, though; I find those cruelly lacking on Lesswrong proper, whether it be in main posts or discussion posts, and their relevant threads.
That's why I think it would be nice to have a forum, a place to have normal discussions, where you don't have to watch that you don't say anything stupid or out-of-line lest you unexpectedly lose karma. A place to exchange jokes, frivolities, and entertainment. A place to talk about stuff that isn't rationality or singularity-related. A place to relax and enjoy the company of like-minded folks. A place to take a more personal approach to communication, with sequential rather than branching conversations. A place to make and be friends.
Don't you think having that would be nice?
EDIT: Also, if this place does already exist and I'm not aware of it, I humbly request that you provide me a link, for which I would be most grateful.