It was also a vital part of the community we built at trailvoy, and helps fuel the comradery needed to have enjoyable meets, wrenching parties, and other in-person and phone contacts.
It may be technically possible to have a selection to conceal the "Off Topic" section from folks who don't feel it's of value to them. But in my experience, ALL thriving forums of every possible specialty have some sort of OT section. In many cases it's for contributing members only. In others it's by invitation only.
A forum where the only interaction is people asking about schematics and what spark plugs to install, would FOR ME, be boring and stifling. ONE HUGE HONKIN' FAQ could satisfy most of the needs of that sort of forum.
That said, it *is* notable that post whoring is so popular here. It was encouraged in the early days of the site, when the post count was tiny and we needed to increase our radar reflection for the Google bots. I walked away from the #1 post count at trailvoy, and will never get that spot back here. I don't think that genie will agree to go back in the bottle.
The culture of the site is an ever-changing beast, and evolution over time is a good thing. Especially as the ownership demographics changes. When these vehicles and trailvoy were both new, the trucks cost $25-40K, almost all the owners had the income to support the required financing, and mods had to be done after careful debate about how it would impact the warranty.
Now, we're getting 3rd and 4th hand owners who inherit trucks from their grandparents, or buy them for under $2000 from cheap-ass previous owners who deferred all maintenance. The new members have TOTALLY different needs, and on average, lower disposable income for mods, let alone required catch-up maintenance. That is (to me) a much more significant challenge for the site to evolve to match - changing ownership demographics.