Chris,
I think your time-out idea worked out great. I made some new friends, and general animosity in the talk pages is down. Five of us are even discussing a plan for working together:
Ed (thinks he's neutral but really just as biased as anyone else) HistoryBuffer (pro-facts and pro-fairness) IZAK (intolerant of injustice) Jay (doubly just pro-facts and pro-fairness :-) Pir (really, honestly, genuinely pro-facts and pro-fairness :-)
Edmund Poor (mondo prude)