There are some very smart people on that site that only contribute there(although some are old slashdotters from back in the day) so it is a shame.

I get the impression by watching the community that interacting with them is basically impossible as a normal person.

Someone gets an invite, has productive technical discussions, eventually says something that doesn't align exactly with their religion(and we're talking really obscure stuff here) and he gets swiftly and permanently banned possibly bringing the person who invited him down with him as well.