A few thoughts:
1. If anyone believes that moderating the language and style of the forum towards "friendly" will attract developers, he is an idiot. Developers who don't come here because they consider the forum's atmosphere "hostile", "virulent", "toxic" or whatever adjective they like to use, are morons anyway, so no loss there. Developers who stalk the forum but don't post and are fishing for opinions actually benefit from lax moderation. And yes, for them it's a job. There are a few developers who take part in discussions. The rest I guess just don't find us interesting. Oh well.
2. The theory that forum staff is pushing for a "friendly" atmosphere with the goal to attract developers sounds pretty implausible to me, for the reasons explained above.
3. I don't think it's possible to change the overall reputation of the Codex, whether someone is actually set on this ludicrous mission or not.
4. Infinitron brings news, which is one thing I come for to this forum.
5. The other one is the goofballs, mostly. I actually come here for laughs, butthurt, and drama half the time. The sad fact is that most of you can't tell me anything insightful or new about RPGs even if you wanted to talk about RPGs, but I'm sometimes entertained by discussions here, whether this was the intention of posters or not. I suspect there was a period with more smart people on this forum, but they moved on after a few years, when they got older and their priorities shifted, at some point in the Codex' lifespan.
So, as long as the people who provide fun and the people who provide news are around, I'm a happy customer. Carry on please!