i agree, it's not really the caps or whatever, it's the unilateral decison that grates.
sam, i have no doubt, invests significant time and resources into this site, and for that there's a huge bucketload of respect...
but... i have to worry... from what i've seen in this thread there's actually no good reason to do the caps thing, just some thought in someone's head that it's a good thing to do.
for better or worse, this is a community, and that's what makes this site what it is. yes, the technology behind it helps mediate the communication, but without the people here it's nothing.
i'd personally rather see a social solution to this "problem" than a technological one... after all, being social is what this site is about, isn't it?