I agree, a lot of thread worthy topics were discussed in the shoutbox. I would always scroll all the way back to the last thing I'd read and read forward to a me sure I didn't miss anything good. I think it was always meant more as a thread starter/off the wall comments type place rather than a primary location of discussion on the site.
Or maybe it's just a ploy by zdfx to get more people to use the irc channel??? We'll never know...
