Well obviously debates are still allowed to start, otherwise OT would have probably been shut down by now.

But essentially ever debate I've seen on this site has gotten closed once things got heated enough. 
I'm not suggesting the Mods and Admins close a debate the second it starts, but they often close it when the going gets rough in the debate.
Which is a shame because in most other sites I use (The ones who don't close debates), majority of the time said conflict often will eventually burn out on it's own and the majority of the people will reach some sort of agreement. But the Guild normally closes the debates before it get's to that point.