Dave,
While I agree with the spirit of your post, I also feel that the Chatter section is a place for discussions that may not be directly relevant to VFP. One can easily ignore the Chatter section if they are not interested in "off-subject" discussions.
I do agree that the high school type of "Yes you did", "No I didn't" exchanges are bothersome. I have the habit of looking first at the number of replies and when it is more than four or five I am careful about when I read them (I do get some enjoyment out of watching some people making fools of themselves now and then).
It is easy to ignore the threads you aren't interested in and following the ones you are.