A lot of very valid points have been made in this post, yes more mods would help BUT the bottom line is us, the members who have been here for a while, not the newbies, have to set the tone for the message board culture to keep things like this from happening.
I actually love the "versus" threads, but the problem is people get their egoes hurt when someone doesn't agree with them, and sometimes the replies aren't exactly "civil". I'm not saying we need to all bite our tongues and sing kumbayah everyday but there has to be a level of respect.
I've been a mod for many many forums too and it's always the ones who were there the longest that have set the tone/culture of the board. WE ourselves are responsible for what we put out there and only WE ourselves can step back and say "ok, this person doesn't agree with me, maybe I can tell him why I think this way, with actual FACTS instead of insulting him/her!" Only then can we go back to normal.
We have to realize that the person on the other end with another view or personality has feelings too, and feels the way they do and we might not be able to change it, but we can show them our side in the best way possible! It's not easy to come up with a long winded answer, but what's the point of saying "Your style sucks!" or "I hate that game!" or "you are an idiot!" without actually defining why? We have to be mature and police ourselves, yes we can still have fun while doing it!
It's harder to step back and look at someone who's insulting you and say, "I don't even know this kid, why should I give hin the same response he's giving me?" But THAT's what makes you the mature one, when you step back you can come up with actual facts of why you disagree and leave it at that.
I love this forum, this is the ONLY forum I go to now when I used to go to more, please let's not mess it up, let's try our best to bring it back to its glory, but it starts WITHIN!