Right now, Stingtalk is a good board. I pretty much stopped posting anything of substance (if I ever did) on the Hive because there are too many people that will jump on you if you say something that's unpopular. That tends to happen with a large board and the Hive has gotten really large. I'm not really anti-Hive. I like the Hive, but I stay really low-key over there and lurk for the most part.
Stingtalk is like walking into a living room with 6 or 7 friends and everyone addresses each other respectfully. The Hive is like walking into an auditorium with a few friends and hundreds of strangers. The Vent is like walking into an 80,000 seat stadium with 79,999 strangers.
This place is small enough and new enough so that people feel comfortable expressing themselves without fear of being policed and ostracized. The layout of the board, where you can't see the title to every response also contributes to that atmosphere.
We're all Jackets here. So, this should be a pleasant place to talk. As long as people don't slam my right to an opinion, I'll do the same for them.