I would't call it apartheid when people appear out of nowhere with obviously close to zero knowledge about either the arctic, or ice, or generally climate or meteorology and start posting 5 posts a day about basically nothing ("oh, i think we will lose a lot of ice the next week" or "we will make a new record I'm sure" and the like).
I used to read the melting/freezing thread for years and learnt a lot. Whatever I did not understand I tried to read/learn about, and although I am not a professional by far but at least I start to understand some things finally. That is due to the very useful comments on the main thread. That thread was derailed by huge amounts of unnecessary and meaningless content the past year.
I don't care who is a scientist and who is not, the only thing that matters is that the comment be meaningful and relevant, something that gives you a new thought, a new way to research. meaningless chitchat without facts/science/relevant thoughts is great but that belongs to a pub.