"...non-language related discussions to hijack the forum for whatever other purposes... Whenever you find discussions without any relation to language learning, it might be a good idea to vote them down and/or report them to italki..."

I disagree. In fact, I think that's the distinction between the "Questions" section (language-related, mostly, although culture-related is explicitly allowed) and the "Discussions" section.

One way to learn a language is to practice using it. One way to practice using it is to discuss interesting topics that are not topics in language learning. Every topic poses its own challenges in terms of vocabulary, phrases, and situations requiring complicated grammar. The language that is needed to make a hotel reservation, or give directions to the train station, is not the same language that is needed to describe Halloween costumes or Broadway musicals.

There's no rule that only topics about language learning itself are allowed in this forum. I'm bored by threads about pizza toppings and I find pineapple on pizza an abomination. But that wouldn't justify me flagging a user (and thus getting them banned) who says that pizza with pineapple is their favourite. And though the topic isn't strictly language learning related, it's a chance to learn new vocabulary, to try to express oneself, learn how to argue in one's target language. Every topic can serve the purpose of learning more about languages and cultures. And if the pizza topic is too offensive for me, how about I just move on to the discussion about the beauty of Polish declensions but don't take the fun away for other people to passionately discuss pizza toppings? (Yes, my argument is partly metaphorical. You can exchange the pizza topping with any other topic of your disliking.)

Btw, the silly discussions are often the best. I miss the times when it was possible here to have pun battles without getting banned permanently. Throwing puns is a linguistic art.

I also suggest that people who get offended, voice their opinion instead of just secretly downvoting and flagging. Here's how to be offended in the right way: https://youtu.be/F-mju_gW3c8 (Yes, that video is satire.)

Edited for typos.

As long as those "fake persons" don't start non-language related discussions to hijack the forum for whatever other purposes, we shouldn't care too much. But since a while I have been noticing a growing number of discussion topics which have nothing to do with language. Sometimes they are just silly, but sometimes there are provocative in various ways...

Whenever you find discussions without any relation to language learning, it might be a good idea to vote them down and/or report them to italki, depending on the offensiveness of the content?

@Miriam

Well, I learned how to say United Nations in Russian...