hmmm. Good point. I suppose if no one replies to my 'other' items here, then a side forum probably would not work anyhow. And if I don't get replies to most of them - I'll probably get the hint (at least one would hope)... :)
At this point, I think that more posts is probably a good thing, even if they're only slightly related to arc.
A lot of people like me probably don't check all that often because there isn't much going on. If we can increase the number of comments/submissions to a slightly higher level, it will probably encourage more return visits, and better community interaction. Sure, the quality should be kept high and this is the arc forum. But by all means, submit "other" posts, if only so that there's a reason to check more frequently. That would give the arc community a greater appearance of life, and allow the posts and questions that "really matter" to get more attention as well.