When I joined the forum, I was instantly added to the Abrasive Retards thread (or PM chain, I don't remember) and assumed it was a trial-by-fire sort of thing for new people. When it was closed for further replies, quite a few of the same users (myself included) dove headfirst into threads like Abortion Debate Containment and started flailing around.
Others have brought it up, but would it be feasible to have one thread for people who are abrasive and retarded (again, myself included) to post in instead of being banned? They could still say their piece and/or howl into the void, just out of sight of people looking for news and information only.