GAF is one of the few places where NOT everything is politics. One can give opinions on the hobby without first checking a list of blackballed names or forum-approved political viewpoints. This environment allows like minds to meet and form connections without fear of being backstabbed or reported to the powers that be for petty reasons.
Walking away from it all because you can't talk about one piece of your particular politics is incongruent with how the community rebuilt itself over the last 3 years. I'm happy for all the dissatisfied liberals and passionate middle-of-the-roaders who got a taste of conservative viewpoints on GAF, even if they scurried at the first sign of trouble. Better luck next patriotic resistance.
I've taken a few tours of politics board since its inception and it ain't the board it was even a year ago. The "50 posts minimum" was a nice temporary dam. However, an increasing number of posters began signing up / returning and heading straight to politics board without much mod intervention (the community did its part to point it out, at least), and the quality of discussion dropped in tandem. The drop in quality was anticipated. Regulars suggested different ways to address it, such as adding a ratio ceiling to the # of posts you could make in politics in relation to other boards. I still think a ratio would do wonders, but in the end, Politics board continues to serve its purpose as a honeypot for people who can't help but make everything political.
Even under the best of circumstances, stolen election articles and discussion was only gonna result in another russiagate-tier board takeover where every topic and every retort would spiral back to "stolen election" like everything spiraled back to "but but Trump". The board already suffers enough of those fools. We didn't need a republican version doing it too.