I went through the same thing on a dog message board. Used to just sit back and soak all the info up, get to know the other people, etc. Then the drama...let me tell you, it can get pretty fun! There are some reaaaaaaaal nutcases out there. But we'll end up with these megathreads with a few thousand posts and if you can't devote a couple hours a day to reading..forget it. Anyway, now I mostly read what I can, contribute what I can, and stay out of the drama. Most of the time.