I'm sorry HarleyFatboy and tripod2, but I feel have to disagree with the both of you. I enjoy going to a picture thread and seeing nothing but pictures... and not have to scroll through pages of comments, most of which have nothing to do with the pictures, to see a half dozen picture posts. A picture, or video, only thread lets me see continuous picture or video posts and that's what I prefer.
I do agree with you, HarleyFatboy, that the chatter in the threads has decreased, and that is not a good thing, in my opinion. And, the feature that I think is taking away from the interaction of CC members in the threads... is the Chat. One cannot go into the chat and find out what's been discussed 30 or 60 minutes, or even 2 hours, previous. If you weren't in the chat for hours and hours, you've no idea what's been discussed, and you may have missed a discussion about something you would have enjoyed participating in.
So, eliminate the chat and chatter in the threads will pick up again, as long as the chatter in the threats isn't in the picture or video threads.