I am curious what people's thoughts are regarding barriers to participation and engagement in this site, especially as they compare to say other online communities or church communities.

I propose that

Now, so of you have no idea what world of warcraft is, let alone Barrens chat.  World of Warcraft is a mmorpg (massive multiple-player on-line role-playing game), which has over 10million subscribers forking out approx @$12/month)

Barrens chat is known on many servers for a place for foolish chat.  It has a reputation for Chuck Norris jokes, and inappropriate jokes. 

Trade chat also can be taken over at times, by similair behaviour.