A good number of the more interesting and thoughtful posts come from "Newbies" (BTW, what qualifies as a Newbie? I feel like one frequently but have been around for 3 or 4 years and have 1000+ posts. These "good old days" of which Gib speaks must be before then, since I don't recognise the changes he describes.). Posters like Scott Warren and Jon Lyon bring plenty to this board. Of course it's a worse place for the absence of some (Rihc, for one is sorely missed. Hopefully he will return one day.) Of course there are some inane and pointless posts and some posters are responsible for more than their fair share (I find myself in agreement with Pat Craig again on this).
I'd echo Bill's thoughts and Dale's. I have never played golf with a GCA poster I would not, happily, play with again (with perhaps one exception and of course, I would not play for money against Chappers, at least not off that handicap). Nor have I met or played with a GCA poster who was not genuinely interested in architecture and discussing it. Not all have the confidence (or sometimes knowledge) to discuss the weightier, more complex issues that get discussed here and not all (indeed not many) feel comfortable with the aggressive, personal nonsense that sometimes breaks out and perhaps the facetious, "wit" is an attempt at levity to avoid that but there have been ebnough great threads recently (and, indeed, currently) that I think GCA is in good health.