The disconnect between the political threads and the others seems, to me, to be pretty absolute.
I don't pick up on any cross-vibes that indicate a carried-over animosity at all.
The problem seems to me - if indeed there is one - that some people who are not interested in political chat, or are afraid if it, want to close it down for the others, too. What happened to self-determination and ignoring what you don't find interesting?
I see a lack of pro posters; there isn't any doubt about that at all. They were what drew me to looking at pics here more than anything else: I became - and remain - quite a fan of BC's work, not only because of his style with model shooting and his very deep experience, but because of his free 'n' easy way of expressing his mind. He sounds like somebody I would really like to know, and yeah, he gets what much of the reason for doing pro work is. Not all pros do; and no, it isn't only the money, surprisingly enough.
There is another aspect to the images shortage, too, in that it appears to me that only a very little group of people here is able to understand some genres of work - I'd put Oscar, Ivo into such a group of people producing something that's different to the usual. A past-poster living in France, Graham Byrnes, also contributed quite a lot of interesting people photography. Our artist buddy Peter never fails to come up with his gems, and Russ has an amazing back catalogue of so many things. Shamus Flynn used to be someone who almost never put a photographic foot wrong. Not many of those people about. Eric has a beautiful book.
That said, most of the rest of us just come up with more of the same of what we've been doing since the ark was launched, or worse, become mired in techniques the way folks used to be with Cokin filters. In other words, we get predictable and not interesting. Apart from that, it takes a lot of effort to keep producing images, and perhaps it doesn't always seem to be worth the effort. Many peope who lived for photography discovered it simply wasn't enough to sustain them.
To return to the politics: not all those who scribble there post pics very frequently. Ever thought of that or wondered why not?