My thoughts, for what they're worth:
There should be no personal attacks, and the mods do a great job on these. I agree
We're all adults and as such are capable of self-moderation. Exactly
There are clear areas of technical questions ,(which should only be answered by trained professionals), and greyer areas that straddle customer relations/ management etc. Usually they are put in the business forum, but sometimes appear in dedicated forums where the thread title may catch the non-specialist's eye. That's true, to be honest even I go by title
Non-professionals can give a different perspective to non-technical questions, eg, from the client's viewpoint. Exactly, opinions are not correct or incorrect they are just opinions
The "Who are you?" thread showed what a vast amount of experience geeks have in other areas of business/ work. The experiences they have are often transferable into the salon world, in the areas of business management, HR etc. So, although they may not currently be an owner/ manager, they may have opinions or advice to offer. Agreed, I know a lady who professes to have done nails for over 20 yrs, trained with the best in the US blah blah, yet this lady has had so many complaints as the tips she puts on are always too small and feel like they are bruising the nail. In my nearly 3 years, I can honestly say I've never had that complaint
Finally, I really hope that we retain and appreciate all geeks who support and encourage those who,like myself, really appreciate them.