While I understand and appreciate that some forums have more of a community feeling than others with a set of regular members who hang out in one or two specific forums, that doesn't override the need for those forums to remain "on topic." Why? Imagine if we just let everyone post anything they wanted on any forum we have? Why bother having topical forums in the first place then...

The guidelines apply equally to all.

What I am happy to consider, however, is the idea of creating a specific sub-forum in forums where there is a close-knit community of members as a place of their own where they are welcomed to go off-topic. This would be like a social group.

And there's always social groups -- nothing stopping people from creating a social group for their set of friends on a particular forum and have everyone participate there too.

DocJohn