I think you missed the first part of the description of that forum:
"Read Only Archive".
That forum contains threads from the Legal and Political forum which was once an active part of TFL. It was retired and the "Law and Civil Rights" forum was started.
The rules and guidelines for posting in the new forum are a bit more structured and restrictive to prevent the unceasing political rantings and ravings that used to take place in the older L&P forum.