Heated debates? yep undoubtedly but always with a degree of respect I think.
To explain to those who weren't here at the time, the reason the man who called himself Yiannis (he was late-middle aged Englishman) left was that in almost every post he made he promoted Romanza and Mythica (the taverna owned by Romanza and no longer there). Many people became fed up with this and said so. Eventually he stormed off.
The "heated" debates were often about trivial things - for example, were some people being given Kumquat marmalade at breakfast at Romanza? That one ran and ran, and became a running joke. Actually, some people took their own Kumquat jam to breakfast!
I think people these days are over-sensitive to disagreement. I like issues to be debated. For example, in 1944 Churchill ordered British troops, allied with pro-Nazi collaborators, to fire upon a peaceful demonstration in Syntagma Square in Athens. 20 were killed and over a hundred injured. It's known to Greek people as Dekemvriana. That's just one example of Churchill's dreadful actions. Heated debate, anyone?