The arguing and bickering over some stuff, mainly BOM is what is driving people away.
So what is the solution? Just let the a tiny few individuals, many with ulterior motives, and most with no notion about or interest in what the event is about, drive stunt into the ground - in the name of avoiding controversy? Because as long as there are people willing to stir this up, over and over, the only options are to ignore it and hope it goes away (which it won't) or oppose it (which you refer to as "bickering", as if this was some trivial side issue).
What we should have all learned by this point is that ignoring, appeasing, placating people with destructive ideas just encourages them to do it more. We are talking about *completely destroying* one of the most popular competition events in modeling. Sorry, but that has to be opposed on every level and every time it comes up.
Brett