I'd like to give my 2¢ if I may.
Personally, I'm not a fan of pre-sales. I think in many cases, it's just borderline stealing as many promises are not followed through on both sides of the sales. I also feel it contributes to the mad rush at DSF and to the recent PODM. Even though I live near DSF, I've never gone to a release, mostly due to my job. I've almost gone recently, but I feel there has definitely risen up a subculture of the Pin Trading Community who feel DSF is there personal domain and unless you are a regular, you shouldn't invade their turf. I do realize that is only a small percentage of the people who regularly go to these things, but some of them are the most vocal on the boards. I do think its a darn shame that most DSF and even WDI pins are sold rather than traded within the pin collecting hobby, but I think that's a whole different discussion.
In regards to drama on the boards, I feel much of it should be allowed to happen, to a certain degree. In any hobby, you have good people, and you have bad people. The only way to find out who the bad people are is by talking about it. I've posted elsewhere that I feelthe recent DSF release really exposed the character of a lot of people. But by not being able to talk about it, the bad behavior can stay hidden from others. But if we don't talk about it and expose what went on, the bad behavior will just continue.
In my opinion, it should be common knowledge who the resellers are, who the gougers are, who the cliques are and who the truly nice people are. We should know who the good and bad ebay sellers are and who they are on any forum about Pin Trading. If people are doing nothing wrong, they have nothing to be worried about. Bad behavior persists because people know they can get away with it. People can be horrible at a release, but then come on the boards and be anonymous or sell on eBay and people buy from them not knowing the kind of behavior they exhibited to get the pin. Sometimes a public shaming is just what a person needs to change the way they act.
Now I'm not advocating that every personal issue get dragged up on the boards, but when we have releases that get out of hand like the recent DSF release or the Beauty and the Beast PODM, I think it's important to call out those that behaved poorly. How else do we hold each other accountable in this community?
As for closing threads, I think the mods did the right thing when they closed the threads during the last DSF release. Passions were being flamed and there was a clear us vs them mentality going on. By shutting down discussion until after the release, I think it helped cool the situation down. We were then able to post once the release took place. However, I do not agree with the continued closing of threads that is still happening everytime a DSF thread starts. And it nearly is always someone who was at the release who asks for it to be closed. Why? If it was that bad and has such bad memories for you, don't read the thread. But I feel people here have every right to talk about it if they want to. Again, I think many want them closed to conceal the bad behavior. Discussion needs to be allowed to flow freely, within reason (curse words are never acceptable and folks need to remember this is an all ages board so sexual discussion/innuendo of any type should not take place).
For the most part, I've really enjoyed the boards here. I've interacted with some really great people. But I've also had my share of attacks (once for a misunderstood question I had asked that someone took offense to and another time I was called out for apparently sending out bad trade request - but in that last case I had to consider the source - sometime you just can't argue with stupid.) Have had some good experiences with Zaps, both that I've sent and the one I received, and I've had some bad experiences with zaps I've sent (if you get zapped, please at least thank the person who zapped you). Some on the boards are more problematic than they think they are, others are more helpful than anyone ever gives them credit.
The boards can be a lot of fun if we discuss freely, interact with more people outside of those you normally interact with (lets break up some of these cliques, folks), and get back to trading more than selling.
Anyway, just my opinion.