Originally Posted by
DayTrader 
I'd like to see a "primary purpose" in these newcomer threads where we focus on helping the newcomer and be mature enough to set aside all the other stuff for another area/time/place.
I would agree with that general premise, DayTrader. It is certainly not my place to say how the forums should be arranged here, but one thing that I saw done in another forum was the creation of a separate section for threads that turned into never-ending discussions. They would start up anywhere, of course, but if they started sucking up all the attention on a primary forum, the moderators would simply move it to that separate section.