If the Front Page is a primary landing point for "outsiders" then it may seem that "outsiders" might be journalists or experts and so should be presented immediately with "weighty content."

But "outsiders" are also "new visitors from other blogs" who need to be given every chance to interact with the community and join in. As such they need to be presented immediately with "salons and open threads" to give them a place to dive in.

I'd remind everyone that our Salon, chatty as it may be is also still a selling point for our community as it's one of the better single collations of interesting news from a Euro-centric angle out there.