I think, the forum in general, and not just the Religion section will benefit from one new format, which I would call “Academic” threads.
Anyone with any opinion is allowed in an academic thread. However,
- posts must stay on topic
- external references must be sourced
- “bump to the top”, “amen to that”, “LOL”, and similar posts that bring no new content are not allowed.
I appreciate the fact that moderators cannot be asked to become online rapid-response one-man editorial boards to sort out what is and what is not on topic, is legitimate reference, etc. But they don’t need to: the moderators only need to enforce demands for substance that others raise. It should not be harder than analyzing posts for mind-reading, for example. And consider the payoff you will receive on the noisiest interminable catch-all threads: now any substantive debate will be branched off to an academic thread, leaving the troll thread to die.
An Academic thread would be good, however, I see physical difficult in policing this.