If ANYBODY has any ideas to make WF a better place, email / PM / AIM one of the mods. We'll be happy to give it some thought and maybe it will get implemented. If you notice obvious spammers, REPORT them. When you report a post, an email goes out to every mod.
I'm probably one of the softest mods here. I've personally unbanned a couple people. One deserved it, the other made me look like a fool. I believe in second chances though. Also, IMO n00bs shouldn't be auto-banned. We all started somewhere. I think the community does a good job of putting them in their place and helping where appropriate. If they take it personally and start acting like a complete asstard, then one of us steps up and bans the fucker (ie. Mr. Drucker).
I also believe that some of the "decline" has to do with the influx of new blood. The larger a forum gets, the more diverse. 1 year ago, there were only 600 or so members (in the first month), now there are almost 9000. n00bs are an unfortunate reality if you want a forum to grow. If you want it to be the same 600 members forever, it will eventually die, due to lack of new input. Some n00bs actually prove very quickly they deserve to be here. Some prove they need to be introduced to "Italy" (think of Italy's shape).
Diversity brings a lot of things to light, and for some people, that may mean a drop in quality, for others it may mean fresh ideas. For WF_Former, Wickedfire may have moved in a direction that wasn't to his / her interests. This also happens. You can't please everyone all the time. Again, if you are unhappy with the current situation, talk to us (the mods and admins) about it, and offer some ideas to change / correct any problems that you see.