Those members are long lived on the forum. Besides Meta - where all things about forum are dicussed, you can find them on Reputation with a lot of funny dramas. But if you really want healthy serious talks, take a look at Serious discussion or even Ivory Tower. You can also find a lot of other prestigious, active experts on other boards, for example gmaxwell in Development & Technical Discussion or squatz1 in Politics & Society. Even a trashy board like Altcoin Discussion has an altcoin nerd tk808.

Bitcointalk is like a small society with all kind of interesting stuff. Rather than asking for a good board, you should browse and experience yourself. Don't just search for people base on merit stats. A member has a big number of merits doesn't necessarily means he's a quality poster (though it's true for almost cases). You're a new member, you have a lot of time.