I go away for like a couple of hours to read my book (Ironically, The Information Bomb by Paul Virilio) and all hell breaks loose. I was familiar with the 'predictable' thread and it all seemed like fun and then theres shit being thrown at the admins and people being barred (apparently). I wish I could just sit back and enjoy the lolz but this is all too much.

Can someone sensible* try and explain this to me?

*probably already barking up the wrong tree, anyone sensible would be following whats going on here.