The flow I'd like to see is that when a webmaster comes here with a
problem, he can go to the relevant section, read the FAQs, and have a
good chance of having his question answered.  The next step would be to
post his question, with a strong probability of having it resolved
through discussion, even if that resolution is for the group to reach a
consensus that the hoped-for result is not appropriate given the
circumstances.  In certain cases when the argument breaks down into one
set of speculations opposing another, that would be a good time for a
Googler to provide some facts.  Case in point: the W3C pissing match.
I know you don't want to discuss the Googler role, Adam, but here and
there is a need for an apt word to establish an authoritative precedent
that can be cited.

I'd like to see a section for new webmasters with the emphasis on new
sites having a good initial "handshake" with Google.  That should also
keep noobs and mean old dogs away from each other and keep other topics
more focused.  Call it "The Sandbox". :D

As far as site-specific discussion goes, yes, I feel that would be very
helpful and can be done without giving up too much sensitive
information.  An example here is Vanessa's comments concerning Sussie's
site.  Again, authority was provided to settle unresolved conflict at
no risk to how Google conducts its business.

A Google News section would be good, again with the emphasis being on
developments that may be causing anomalies in user accounts or search
results.

Details:
--Crawling, indexing, and ranking is a huge subject area, could be
chopped into thirds.
--"See more topics" should be ordered by most recent post rather than
original thread date.
--An edit key would be most welcome.
--URLs in subject headings?  A dumb choice but why not?  See comment
re: mean old dogs.
--Signatures: Two lines and optional URL ought to be plenty.

I can see a lot of potential in the group for improving the quality of
both websites and search results, which means better functioning of the
web generally.  Very good stuff!

Pete