At the point where anyone says, "Take it to General," I guess. bjt, you wrote (upstairs): "Seriously, one of the reasons that these forums become so friendly is because they are unstructured. If the forum had a moderator, perhaps the conversation would stay on track."
I am the list owner of a discussion list. The rule is that nothing which has no relationship to the subject for which the list was formed should be brought up. The list owner is supposed to enforce that. Yeesh. I've been called a "Nazi," a "tyrant," and worse trying to keep people in line. Any moderator has to have a hide as thick as that of a rhino (no offense, RhinoBoy, if you're still with us). Also, there has to be some sort of enforcement available, like suspension or banishment from the list. None of us here has that kind of authority.
Not only that, but there are a lot of highly creative people on that list, just like the snipers that populate this Forum. They can dream up ways of bringing in extraneous subject matter and linking it to the list purpose so it's "legal."
I don't see anything wrong with wishing someone "good morning," and I don't think Basrah did either. But chatting about grandchildren and the weather -- and I'm guilty of both -- does sort of detract from the Forum purpose.