Ok, those are good arguments (except for the one about giving the mods more work, they should be worked like galley slaves with Brad beating on that big kettle drum), do any of them apply? I realize there was some goofy stuff going on with negatives for a time, which I assume was the reason that negatives were turned off for a portion, but was there actual cliquishness in VBF? Were people actually whining to the mods when they didn't get a rep for a particular answer? Did it work...cause if it did, I have a whole load of whining that I'm behind on?

I can see such behavior in some places, and perhaps I'm too cliquish, but I would be a bit surprised to see that activity here to any notable degree.