One word replies, or even answers of limited discussion aren't really that damaging to the community, especially in the flood, where small talk is part of flood culture. Larger, more in depth threads tend to be for here and the universe forum. Much like what Verachi said, discussion value is when you can make a coherent reply without it being spam. Also, the "whatever I say it is" response would probably work the best, from the view of the moderator. In regards to the female gamer discussion, sure, that promotes discussion I suppose. The reason a thread like that would be allowed would be due to the fact it isn't against the rules, unless it was deemed spam for whatever reason, such as thread derailment and/or flaming. Discussion is, more or less, whatever the repliers of a thread make of it, and it the moderators in question view it as appropriate, etc.