Lyss710 said:

"...it seems that a large part of the reason as to why there are off topic posts is because people only read one or two of their favorite forums when they log into FT... Have you ever read a post in the "Women Travlers" section of FT Travel?"

Great observation: you can try and force-change behavior; but, I think that is fighting an uphill battle. Personally, I spend a fair amount of time bouncing around too...but:

1. The majority of people won't spend the time...that's just a fact, or at least I believe it to be a fact, and we can wait a year until it becomes a fact;

2. If the above is true, are we better off as a community...when we have a question and it gets short attention because it's parked in a less trafficked place than otherwise could be the case?

I guess some believe that we can/will change enough people's behavior over time so that this won't be a practical problem. And, for many, this issue doesn't bother them, because they are confident they will get their own questions/issues answered, and the "clutter" is more offensive to them. In fact, one person said he/she isn't looking to have questions answered, and the implication (I may have it wrong so please correct me) is/was that he/she only wants to deal and interact with people that participate in this close-knit way (please don't infer anything but a descriptive intent here).

So, what is “value” on FT?

We have a lot of people with a lot of different interests and definition of “value”...which is what makes it so hard to discern what works best.

Still, I have a hard time coming down on the side of less information for the most number people.