Here are my two cents .. not sure if it would change the norm. The people who go over the top tend to go over the top no matter what you do. The problem with the BBS is that only the minority of players participate here.
There are at least roughly 3800 people flying. There is definitely not 3800 posting here. However, there is a small minority who do post here that don’t see themselves, their idea, or rants in the light of the bigger context.
Yes, you might have a legitimate beef but you also have to step back and understand that on many issues, even if you get say 20 people agreeing with you here, that it is only a small drop in the bucket and that HTC has to take a look at the overall picture.
However, there is a small minority of this of posters (of this small minority of players) that think somehow if there snide enough, whine enough, beat a dead horse loud enough that it somehow out weighs all other considerations except for their own personal viewpoint. It is these people who consistently step over the line not just every now and then (somebody has a bad day) who think it might either be there right or is just how they related to the game or online experience.
Locking the general forum might possibly have an effect on the other people to show more self restraint, to post more professionally or respectfully, or to really post debates and discussions of ideas with a lower level of sarcasm, etc. (don’t think you can ever get rid of the negativity .. just tone it down).
But I think that as soon as you unlock the forum that the small minority who just don’t get it will be back very quickly to their old behavior.
So yes, it might have an affect on the majority but not everyone and not some of the people you might see with chronic behavior that you don’t like.
My two cents.