See even this is turning into a thread with squabbling and veiled attempts to have a go at other FMs.
You are spot on Kizwiz in your OP. I think as more and more people get access to the internet these days, along with BB appealing to an increasibly wider audience and that TiBB is probably one of the best BB forums on the web (sucking up to the mods, who me?) then you're going to attract an increasingly large amount of people.
More people means a greater chance of attracting idiots to the forum who, spurned on by shows like BBBM and by seeing the boos etc on eviction night, think it is acceptable to have a go at people who disagree with their opinion.
But it's not even the increase in bickering, it's the amount of similar threads popping up. Someone used to start a thread when they had something interesting to say and wanted to hear others opinions on it. Yes, at times it resulted in some heated debate, but hey thats part of the fun as long you know where to draw the line. Now we get so many threads where the original post is just "I want X to win, he/she is great" or "I hate X, s/he annoys me so much" and thats it. Nothing more than that and yet the person felt it necessary to start a whole thread just to declare this when there are already 5 or 6 threads discussing the exact same point. And the same people make the same post in each of those threads and the same people reply. It leads to frustration, which leads to bickering and fighting.
Share the love people, share the love