We have also always thought about having different servers with different major options enabled and disabled.
I don't know how that fight went, but I think that many things that obviously aren't RP related in the first place can have a place in RP in one way or the other.
Many things can be worked around with, have uses for RP, although nobody thought at them before.
Disabling /tell, guildchat or even PvP/PvM or the labels completely is a very bad idea IMO.
Each feature has use in RP, depending on how you RP and what you plan to do.
I'm for dedicated PvP areas on one side and promoting the taverns and other RP dedicated places on the other side, but I see the strength of PS in the possibility to get confronted with different styles, the possibility to learn from people who use a feature in a different way. And not only to have "your" features present for "your" way of gameplay.
I also see that as a big reason for people to stay playing for so long. There is always something new to learn.
The base for everything like that clearly is respect and tolerance.
If a community lacks of respect inside, that's a problem in general, and that can't be simply solved by seperating groups. And if a community doesn't lack respect (which I think is the case in here, most of the time), there's no need to seperate groups.
Since the last release, the world really is large enough for everyone.
I like to promote the possibility to meet different people, but with that lot of space, people can seperate themselves, if they want to. And I don't see a reason to either force them to meet other people, nor seperate them completely, thus taking the possibility to meet foreign gaming-styles.
As long as the world is rather big, relative to the number of players, I don't see a problem with people standing on each others foots, really.
Personally I think that some people dont play because of the people they know that they will see.
If you don't want to be seen, create a new char, wander into another part of the world and leave them alone..
In a year, we'll have thousand players and chances are that you actually can hide in the masses if you want to, which is a bit problematic now with only 100-200 people online.. but not impossible.
Extreme players are inspirations, examples that others love or hate, take as role-models, or oppose.
I think as long as the emphasize lies on "players" and not "extreme" I can agree.
Taking something to an extreme, whatever it is, can be indeed an inspiration for other people, love or hate.
That's not limited to RP or PLing. The problem occurs when those people become "fanatics", negating any other opinion different from their own.
Little example: The tour de France. Those athletes do extremes (wether with drugs or not). That's OK as long as those athletes don't say "biking is the one and only sport, everyone must bike!".
I mean, I find it OK that a player competes with himself or other people of the same mindset, why not? As long as he doesn't go around saying "you're stupid, you don't play the way I do".