I echo what Illauna (who btw is male, which he has mentioned in past posts, in case you're wondering about it sounding like a feminine name) said. The Stardock forums are quite well moderated, and generally pretty friendly, which Illauna and I have tried to express.
The frog smilies are because of our mascot and esteemed leader who likes to take part in the forums (Frogboy, alternate username Draginol).
Have fun and ask questions, although in-depth political discussions are restricted to the joeuser.com part of the site, which is not generally spread out to the rest of the Stardock forums, unlike most non-site-specific "Life, the Universe and Everything" content (which I think is cross-posted to all Stardock-owned forums).