Is the status bar a useful tool that benefits the community, something that’s just there, or something that actively hurts the community?

I fall into the camp of people who believes that the status bar could be made better, like default to a hidden state. While I do believe it has merits, it has doing far more harm than good.

I’m aware you can hide the status bar, but it reveals itself over time. Moreover, it's out there in the public eye. Someone who has yet to register for an account can see the status bar and everything that goes on there. This is why it would be good if it was hidden by default. At least that way people have to actively look for it.

People occasionally use the status bar for status updates, but I feel they don't need to be broadcast to the forum at large. They would be just as useful if they only showed up on your profile. That's where I'd look if you were slow to post. Barring that, you could also just write something at the top of your Bio. 

What’s that? You want to advertise your new RP? Directly below the status bar we have two other bars that show the newest interest checks and roleplays. I can't speak for everyone, but I've gotten to the point where I don't know why I click on status bar RP advertisements. Half the time it's in a sub section I don't feel like participating in, and the other half it's something I'm not interested in. We have sections dedicated to interest checks, and are sorted by tags and writing level. But if you must have a status bar, a user interested in joining a new RP could just unhide it.

Some people say we just need mods, but the regular mods [i]are[/i] our status bar mods. They've been doing a good job, but they have real lives and things do crop up in their absence. 

But what are your thoughts?

[b]Edit:[/b] The title has been made less click-baity, and I adjusted how I worded my stance slightly.