The first reply you get with a comment like that is going to be a fireball from above. I've been there, trust me.
At the end of the day, the rules are whatever JimRob wants them to be. He seems to be having a fair amount of success with this thing, following his own internal rules.
If I were Admin Moderator for a day, I would get rid of all of the sidebar classifications. I would like it better if everything was dumped into the general forum. If a stupid vanity is not worthy of interest, it will die a quick death as people ignore it. If there is something that is interesting, people will discuss it, even if it is a Vanity or a blog post.
It is interesting to me that FR, which has been in the vanguard of personal journalism and predates the blogger revolution, has such a low opinion of blogs. A lot of good news is broken in blogs these days, and it is shuffled off into the Blogger/Personal Memory Hole, and FR must ignore it until it is picked up by a "legitimate" news source. I like it better when things are wide open, and we are allowed to sort the wheat from the chaff ourselves.
Hey, AM's how about a personal setting where we can set our own screen to ignore the sidebar classifications? I would click that button!
I admire what Jim has done for all of us, but nevertheless, it doesn't make any maddog sense to bust people for breaking rules that change from moment to moment. Excuuuuse me for telling the truth!