I think it’s nice to welcome everyone, regardless of their qualities, unless those happen to be disruptive. I have been on this site for some time, and initially when I joined there were the “spammers” who kept spamming threads and trying to create havoc. Haven’t seen those for a while knock on wood
As far as flutherers being hostile or argumentative, some of these topics do boil some people over, especially those with a vested emotional interest in the answers. What for some is serious business (religion, politics, environment, humanity) is taken more lightly by others, and that could cause a lot of hostilities. But, I think that’s part of the dynamics of this site, and sometimes a necessary evil for all to be heard.
I don’t mind that people have been on other social sites and migrated here, but I don’t really see fluther as another social site. There is definitely some social aspects to it if you encounter others who tend to agree with a lot of your opinions, and friendships can definitely be borne here, and carried on to the non-cyber world. But for me the site is purest when it is doing what it does naturally, which is being a vessel for people to ask and answer questions. okay, I like the funny questions too, and engaging in mindless humor when a thread goes off topic