There are a lot of crap posts on our site, with that I mean posts from users who type like they are on MSN.

"How u doin? i r fine, tnx"

We really want quality posts as we do want to attract 25+ users.

Of course we will only create a bad mood if we moderate posts or edit them as people will just scream 'freedom of speech'.

What do you think is best I could do?

Create a general chat forum and a spam forum.

General chat for anything like semi serious but off topic to yoru business and spam for just mindless crap like "OMFG!!!oneone!!one LOL LOL". You can make this forum accessible to your current members and hide it from new ones by using the usergroup feature.

I think the best bet is to lead by example.

We do have a Fun & Games section, where people can just relax and be themselves. I think that might be a good idea for most forums. It seems like new members always gravitate to that section first. I even encourage new members to post an introduction and then come to the Fun & Games section, until they feel comfortable with posting in the other sections.

We try to keep threads on topic in most areas. There are a couple of sections that we are fairly relaxed with, but in the others, we have relied on asking members to try to toe the tline, via PM's. Thus far, it seems to be working.
Mike

What every forum needs is a few good threadstarters as members.
And they're few and far between I'm afraid.
Nothing kills a board quicker than inane drivel like "What's on your sandwiches today?" and "What's your favourite colour?" :cool:

We have a chit chat section and we make it clear that chit chat goes in the chit chat section and any one posting rubbish elsewhere will be warned. There was a point when we tried to remove the chit chat section keeping only one forum for casual discussions for the serious forum members, but that didn't go down too well. And anyway, they don't have a right to scream "freedom of speech"... it's your forum and your rules.... they're free to leave.

I think Mike is right, if you and your staff set the example, and not the tone, your members will gradually follow. And otherwise just kindly request them to put some more time into a post (through PM)?