Yeah, I think that people started doing that because they felt that there were no real consequences for crossing the line.
As for AA being self-sufficient, it can function on its own now without me starting everything up. People are coming on and posting now, and successful events are being started without any supervision from me, other than a "Go right ahead" to kick things off.
In the end, I hope for it to have everything. RPG's draw some people, battling threads draw others, and tournaments draw even more. I'm even planning on opening up a Wi-Fi corner for trading and related stuff, if the idea receives positive feedback.
And while people are posting and participating, and leading, I can devote my time to simply making sure the group is protected from threats both within and without.
All that really needs to happen is for the leader to always be there and willing to help, and do something about those who do nothing but cause trouble.
In my opinion, BALD isn't overly structured, and it still has its founder actively participating. The only thing that I would see happening is a strong response to anyone who tries to trash what you worked so hard to build.
I did that repeatedly, and BattleStar finally got the message to back off in terms of trying to mess around with someone else's work. He has TRC. He doesn't need to be trying to take over everyone else's groups, and hopefully he sees now that he pretty much can't.
I've got the same hope as you. More than one major, active group is what the social corner needs, and a group that provides as much as it possibly can for its members deserves to be out there and thriving, and that's something I definitely am trying to encourage.