Prior to the thread getting locked, about 60% of all daily conversation was located entirely within the ban thread. This was not meant to be a draw to the forum or a reason to make an account, but over time more people got sucked into that black hole of a thread across the community. I've said before I think that meta drama is what kills communities from the top down. I think the thread was exactly that. Not to mention that as some bans are community wide, it started attracting people who don't care about our forum and were only there to post meta drama and beg for an unban on sites I don't run. I don't think that it is a healthy thread to have on the site, but if I think the community has changed enough that we can tolerate it again, it might come back. We'll see in 6 months, maybe.