So I guess not everyone has been around long enough
The lighter side was a sub forum filled with jokes and such...
The chat thread was started in there at one point a very very long time ago, as it was figured out that it was less moderated and you could get your post count up without the watchful eye of the man... the thread and subsequently the sub forum was deactivated as there wasn't much going on in there anyways...
... but maybe that's just a wild guess of mine.