OP has been updated to ask "In the almost 4 years which have passed, has the forum made any real progress fixing the painfully obvious issues?" and, "New question: Would you invite real people you know in the real world to come here?" Also putting in a request to move to meta bitcointalk forum discussion, thank you.

ps. The main point has changed a bit == You often do not need extra words (painfully boring long posts) to make a good point!