From its membership FAQ: There are several forums here whose natures are so volatile that we have had to take extra measures to control them. The forums in question include: Cop Talk The Furball Forum Political Issues Civil Liberties Issues Religious Issues the AWOT Forum The topics of these six forums are very controversial and are the cause of most of the problems we have to deal with here. Much of the trouble in these forums is caused by people who have either been banned and sneaked back on the site, or people who are signing up for no other reason than to go to one of these forums to grind their axe. In an effort to help calm things down in these forums, new members here can no longer post immediately in these six problem forums. How Do I Gain Posting Access To These Forums? A member must have been a member in good standing here for thirty days or more and have made at least twenty posts elsewhere on the site, or... A member must purchase either a general paid membership, or buy a one-time paid subscription that grants immediate posting access to these forums. For more information on these paid subscriptions, please check here: http://glocktalk.com/forums/payments.php. These forums are a small part of our site, but they are responsible for most of the problems we encounter. We are hoping this measure will help to prevent some of that trouble.
Unfortunately I think the plan is flawed; Chit Chat was removed once and members just continued to post chit chat items in other sections of the site. If we were to restrict access to that forum for a time period as suggested, they would just post in other sections.