>>>>There are many sites out there that do not tolerate chatter sections, but I find the UT chatter section something I look forward to reading once in a while.
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>>>In those sites that you are referring to, do you get the perception that they are better off without a Chatter allowed content, in reference to the good running of the site?
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>>No better. There is banning happening on all those sites. It think it is a regular occurance. Some sites use "monitors", people have proven their reliabilty and can monitor a section of the site and "red flag" unwelcomed posters and bring it to the attention of the webmaster who make the final decision. But most of them do not have a chatter section, in order to eliminate some of the "noise" you get here. But some of that noise is sometimes a "welcome' change to the technical aspect of the subjects. Although the interesting element here at UT a good portion of the call for banning is caused in some ways by MVP (so you mentionned) , and your site seems to attract a good bunch of them, more than others anyways. Corrolation between MVPs and banning maybe.
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>Interesting viewpoint. I wonder what the ratio of technical to chatter posts is on a regular basis? Are there more posts in chatter? Does chatter attract any members who would not visit the site without it? Does it turn away more members than it attracts? If chatter were to disappear, would the usage go down? If so, would it be temporary and would no chatter actually bring back or bring in new members down the road eventually? Is a completely different Chatter forum separate from the UT but available from the UT via a link on the task bar a better option? Perhaps leaving the site to get to chatter would separate it from those who prefer not to see it and keep it from new members unless they choose to visit it?

I think you nailed it. Let us take Tek-Tips not to mention names here. They have "users moderated groups" which separate from the technical sections. Some are free to join, some are by invitations. They are all monitored by the individuals the created the group (less responsibilities left to the webmaster). These sections are all 'chatter-like" and are left up to the monitors to deal with as they wish. But the concept originally was to separate the technical aspect of the site from the chatter side of things and not to involve the webmaster at every little struggle. They have over 800 technical forums ( in Tek-tips section anyways - they have as many on the engineering side if things) and the system seems to work well A lot a members (perhaps yourself) only use the technical side of things. Other members (like myself) enjoy reading other type of posts from brilliant people that need to express themselves other than code snippets.