I find threads like the example to be about as boring as two 7 year-olds calling each other names on the playground. Really, you could sum up a lot of arguments on bulletin boards like this:
Poster #1: You're a stupid dummy-head!
Poster #2: No, you're a stupid dummy-head!
Poster #1: No, you are!
Poster #2: No, you are!
Poster #3: You are both stupid dummy-heads!
Poster #1 and Poster #2, in unison to Poster #3: Well, you are a stinky butt-face!
...ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
This would be an example of Teh Dumb. Moderators here, I know for a fact, hate Teh Dumb with a fiery passion. People think a thread gets locked for controversy, people think a thread gets locked for flamimg, but really, what gets posts locked around here is Teh Dumb.
That's also what gets banned around here. If you are a carrier of Teh Dumb, you will get probation as a warning to wise up, and if you continue with Teh Dumb, you will get banned.
But the thing is, the posters here, especially the ones who've been around for a while, hate Teh Dumb just as much as the mods do. Despite the periodic squeaking about "fascist mods," the reasons why the mods are successful in this are pretty simple.
They do a very good job of maintaining a consistent Dumb Threshold, and if you cross it, here they come with their padlocks and hammers. If you are around here for a while, you will figure out where that threshold is, and then it really is your choice to cross it or not.
The second reason that they are successful at this is because we want them to be. There are hundreds of people active on the forums at any given time. If we all wanted to be Dumb, there is no way in all the internets for them to stop us. It's a synergy. Law-abiding citizens make it easier for cops to catch bad guys. Good cops make it safe for a person to be a law-abiding citizen.
We used to be the sort of small town that left their doors unlocked at night because everybody knew everybody else. Now we are a city, a growing city, and that makes it even more imperative that we abide by the law and help the cops do their jobs.
The mods do a good job of setting boundaries, we do a good job of respecting them. If we keep that up on our end, they'll keep it up on theirs, and the stupid dummy-heads and the stinky butt-faces will go fight somewhere else.