1) you need to be Hero or Legendary member or member joined before 2014 to post in WO
2) posts in WO do not add to a poster's Activity Count
This will essentially make it somewhat exclusive for posters who have already earned their stripes elsewhere in the forum, i.e. veterans. And it reflects the make-up and effective purposeful useage of the thread as it stands, long-time posters who are occasionally or regularly checking in on this thread,posting price news, thoughts opinions and sometimes loosely related bitcoin or personal material.
The spamming and attempts at disruption are usually from new accounts who covet the attention provided by the thread. Bashing the Off-topic button seems to be their latest tactic, since that is how they have been shut-out most recently (classic DDOS attack is to exhaust the most effective defence). People might not know of the huge job Lauda has done in the past cleaning up after NotLambChop and shutting out that entity's attack on the WO. The current Off-topic attack is most likely a response to that ... there has probably been collateral damage and Lauda has collected some undeserved ill-will for that previous defence.
I dig this as an idea. It's by far the most read thread and that's a great way of preserving its freewheeling nature whilst also exterminating a vast amount of the shite at the point of origin and improving its content.
It would instantly reduce the workload by a great deal.
I'd loosen the member requirements though to senior or perhaps full. There are plenty of comparative newcomers with good stuff to offer.
I know younglings may be narked by being excluded but they have elsewhere to play around. I suppose the only issue would be rival threads created by peons that would create the same amount of work again for mods so it would be back to square one to an extent.