[MrWookie]

This is a most horribly misguided opinion. OOT is an incredibly valuable forum to 2+2, and not just because of the traffic it generates. It single handedly makes all of the strategy forums better, too. Here's why:

1. Most obviously, people want to talk about a lot of things other than poker. If it was not for OOT, people would make all kinds of off-topic posts in their home strategy forum, cluttering things up. My moving that content here, the strategy forums stay focused on their primary subject matter and maintain higher quality, well in line with 2+2's main goals.

2. Many of the most veteran strategy posters stick around here because of OOT even if they've mostly tired of posting strategy. So what, you might say, but every now and then, they do stick their heads into the higher stakes forums and contribute something very valuable. These posts would not have been made at all if that poster had given up on the site entirely instead of haning out in OOT.

3. As OOT has grown, you're right, it's attracting non-gamblers. More than one of these has, in fact, subsequently taken an interest in poker and bought 2+2 books. The non-gamblers that make their way here get innundated with lots of word of mouth advertising that costs 2+2 little and gains them much.

As you can see, OOT is extremely valuable here. Killing it would be an utter disaster to the board. Even if it didn't cause a rebellion of people quitting the board out of spite, it would subsequently make the whole place a bad enough board that even people who never posted in OOT would think about quitting.