It's asinine to lock the #1 thread by both views and posts (by a large margin). Obviously there is demand for this "chatroom style" thread. With "Wall Observer" locked, the #1 thread on bitcointalk will end up as some altcoin shit, lmao.

It probably makes the forum easier to moderate because it gobbles up a bunch of the shit posts instead of spreading them all around. (Although most shit posting is clearly the result of sig spam.)

If I was running things (y'all lucky I ain't) I would unlock it, remove the report button, and leave it un-moderated with a disclaimer stating as much. Ignore posting stats from it as well.

While you might have to wade through a lot of shit, there are decent discussions in there from time to time. Plus, you know what to expect before entering.

Oh well... what do I know?