It appears that Jon has added an ignore feature for the rubber-neckers, so that should help.
I've not heard the term "rubber-neckers" before so I don't know what it means, but I do like it!
I haven't added the Ignore feature yet, since it requires the purchase of another plugin, and the guy who runs the site has a history of slow response. I've signed up for his forum, but I am not getting the registration email. I am sure it will be sorted eventually. But the decision has been made that it will be purchased.
@NauticalGent Like yourself, my Access knowledge has atrophied over time. If you don't use it, you lose it. So my participation on Access related issues would more likely hinder than help nowadays. Instead, I focus on the other areas.
As anyone reading all this can see, there are many different views. Some want the politics, some don't. As far as the location is concerned, I am still undecided on whether or not it should be promoted higher up the list, due to convenience. Without this extra plugin, I would leave it where it is. However, with the plugin, it allows any member to hide the complete forum and also any related posts in the Latest Activity and New Posts list. Furthermore, and this is also a great feature, it lets you hide specific threads. So if you were in The Watercooler but didn't want to see a specific thread coming up in the New Posts list, you can hide it. I think it also has the feature to let you still see, for example, the Politics forum, but just hide its posts from appearing under New Posts. Very flexible.