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If The Mind's Eye was the *only* discussion forum in existence, then yes that would be a shame. Fortunately, that isn't the case.
To make an analogy: donating money to charity is a very good thing. Donating ALL of your money to charity is just foolish.
Not EVERY discussion forum needs to be open to everyone and have a good percentage of its traffic made up of newbies asking for help.
Established admins need help as well sometimes on more complicated issues and it is a lot more useful to get that help from people who have actually EXPERIENCED the same situations.
While it would of course be nice to have the PERFECT set of people on a discussion forum that just is not possible.
In light of that, simply being able to discuss issues like those I already listed with people who are currently dealing with them for the same reasons I am dealing with them is something I look forward to.
If the issue was copyright law of course it would be nice to discuss it with an IP lawyer. But assuming no easy way to guarantee the presence of a copyright lawyer, I'd rather discuss the issue with mud admins who have hired a copyright lawyer than the aforementioned 12 year old who just downloaded ROM. At the very least, the mud admin in question would have advice on how to find the right lawyer (or may even be able to give a referral).
In my experience reading tons of discussion forums, the presence of the 12 year old know-it-all tends to preclude the presence of the copyright lawyer.
I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but usually professionals get deterred when they see the kind of flame wars and trolls that too often pollute most discussion groups.
When it comes to web discussion forums, the problem is that each piece of chaff can sometimes rot the entire supply of wheat.
1 troll can write 1000 flames that drown out 50 good posters who write 100 posts. Moderation is not always the answer because the task of moderation becomes exceptionally onerous.
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