Easy answer, FBO was fun and generated a ton of page views in its prime. It worked and worked well for years. People enjoyed the conversations and the camaraderie there. They tried to change it and everyone left. Why not recreate what people enjoyed and worked, while the audience is still here, instead of trying to be something different, which may not work? It sounds to be like NDA is trying to be what FBO tried to turn into (minus the heavy handed moderation) instead of taking the opportunity they have to BE WHAT FBO WAS, that kept people there for many years...
Personally if this site is just fishing/hunting, I might check it daily, but if more is allowed, I would probably be more involved. Outdoors related information is great, but there is only so much entertainment value there. Allowing political discussions would keep people involved and active more than they are now. Sure there are places available that are dedicated to discussing politics, or whatever else, but there are also much larger communities around dedicated to discussing outdoors topics too. This is kind of a niche market and restricting people by removing certain topics from peoples view, IMO, will only hurt this site down the road.