@Minerva, this thread is not about old Vs. new..I want to make this crystal clear that its not about dictating how comps should be run, nor about comparison, the comparison actually was addressed very early on to Craic's first comment when he mentioned banter, chit-chat was always around and I took the liberty to compare the difference between a good banter and the chit-chat currently all about 'make me feel good'.  Praising some more than other hence leading to feuds.
This thread is about chit-chat within comps, making them the new chat rooms, hence leading to feuds!

I went for option 3, bit weird not having them in chronological order, as often chit-chat can derail and mess up a competition.

Personally in the rare times I have hosted a competition I am overjoyed simply for people entering any words, entry or otherwise. As such I like to reply and respond to every entry, often with a first impressions response so that there is evidence of my likings which will then follow up to the winners and runners up.

However for all competitions it should be that some chit-chat is there, unless the host has explicitly stated. Quite a few times the chit-chat in a competition has helped to narrow down what the host is looking for in the rules, and expand the possibilities of entry that poets can take, and has led to inspiration a few times personally. To discard and relegate all supposed 'chit-chat' to a separate thread seems awfully draconian and a recipe for rebellion. Yet having said that, any talk and speech that is just so mundane of off-topic to the competition does not belong there. Either it can be said in private messages or simply rethought or kept to yourself.

It would be nice for all hosts to thank or at least acknowledge all entries, such as thanking all for entering at the end as many do, because it is just a nice gesture. Yet if they don't want to then that is fine, and if they want to thank every single entry with pages of constructive criticism then that is equally viable if a little boring. But it is not the duty of a host to patronise or molly-coddle any and all entries.

The host, entry, entrant, and competition talk, should be done in a manner similar to going to someone's house for a party that they are hosting. You follow the manners and guidelines of them, but do not have to become chained to these as rules and should not simply do your own thing because that's what makes you the most comfortable.

The question is leading

@Lord V, thank you for your thoughts, very insightful.

@Rabbit, lead or to be lead...what was the question again?

Vee said:@Lord V, thank you for your thoughts, very insightful.

@Rabbit, lead or to be lead...what was the question again?

"Excessive chit-chat: harmful or helpful?" - The question does take the stance that there is too much 'chit-chat' right off of the bat, plus has the possibly derogatory phrase 'chit-chat' for conversation and talk.

Plus long, lest we forget long: I do long very well.

Thanks lord viddax
Thats what i meant
By 'leading question'

Valuable in-depth insights into comp
Entries..... good or bad?

And thank you Vee

The good: frequent comments keep the comps name up in lights
The no-so-good: the entries get lost in the noise

What usually happens: lots of dick-sucking along the lines of "I loved your entry. It touched my bowels. You are a great writer". Response "Oh wow, thank you. I just threw it together in the moment. It's not my best work. Thank you for your delicious comment"

Keep writing.

@ Lord V and Rabbit.

excessive |ikˈsesiv|
adjective
more than is necessary, normal, or desirable; immoderate: he was drinking excessive amounts of brandy.
DERIVATIVES
excessiveness noun
ORIGIN late Middle English: from Old French excessif, -ive, from medieval Latin excessivus, from Latin excedere ‘surpass’ (see exceed) .

The title in question as a question was not part of the poll therefore the assumption that its misleading or rather leading (swaying) opinions with the word ‘Excessive’ which in my opinion is more sensitive to fairness and equality than the more absolute and final definition of the word ‘Banning’; is a matter of subjective opinion, granted; the disagreement is based closer to the ethos of the liberal foundation of the site.  
Which was very much taken in consideration with careful consideration outlining the poll making the statements wide and varied as applied (setup so that a person can vote for more than one choice)  
If the word 'Excessive' is eliminated from the title then we're left with 'Are chitchats: Harmful or helpful' which implies: are ALL chitchats harmful and helpful?  and we certainly established in these pages that we don't want totalitarian control or ban.

As for Chit-chat being derogatory, I’m not sure how its perceived to be when the term Chit or Chat rooms have been around since the inception of socially friendly sites on the net, with no particular topic as the main point, varying from humor, to flirtations to highly gregarious or exaggerated forms of conversation to maintain ongoing interest to the person or persons involved.  
I’m sure most of us will recall not too long ago we did have a similar thread (i can’t recall the name now, was it speakeasy also?) that ended up in the boiler room so many times that eventually it was banned completely.
As for the ‘Excessive’ I believe the reference is a democratic approach to assess how much is too much, with emotional outbursts resulting from internal ‘private’ dialogue between very small group of people within the comp with a distinct tone and intention of satisfying much needed attention for approval.
Emotionally fueled feuds have taken center stage, pushing the entries or reserved contestants to the backseat resulting in resentments.  Of course, the term ‘Excessive’ is grey with broad definition. For the one’s involved probably it seems very natural while for the onlookers it may seem nuisance and unnecessary, distraction to drama/dramatic conversation from the main focus.

The term chit-chat according to online dictionary is:

chitchat |ˈCHitˌCHat| informal
noun
inconsequential conversation.
verb [ no obj. ]
talk about trivial matters: I can't stand around chitchatting.
ORIGIN late 17th cent.: reduplication of chat1.
chitchat

noun chit·chat \ˈchit-ˌchat\
Simple Definition of chitchat
           : friendly conversation about things that are not very important

Source: Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary

We can easily dismiss the issue by saying, ‘Ignore it, look at something else’ but anything posted in the forum, whether its a topic or a comp becomes public property since this is a public site with unofficial invitation to observe, watch, cheer and learn.  Inadvertently, allowing the right to every member of this site to express an issue that involves the community at large.
Needless to say, comps have always been important part of this site, its one place that most undiscovered writers are discovered gaining much needed support and feedback who otherwise go unnoticed.  Comps have always been a great way to expand and grow, encouraging to tackle topics which are outside of our safety zone.
So in summary, it's about preserving something wonderful that was intended for artistic growth with all fairness to healthy interaction within the comps, rippling to the community.

Thank you Hemi, noted and agreed.

one thing that might be tried is a Chitchat thread companion to the actual competition thread...

Depends on the content and how it was taken. As simple as that. Relative.

Thanks HHM and Oxy for sharing your thoughts.