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A forum where I used to post eventually banned any mention of Phelps because talking about him just made people belligerent. The consensus was that Phelps wasn't useful to talk about because he doesn't represent Christians (nothing in his website or other materials really relates to Christian doctrine, and no Christian outside of his family would describe him as one) or Republicans/Conservatives (since he doesn't really support most of their agenda either, plus the whole anti-military thing), or any other group that's actually important in American culture.
The Phelps family aren't like the Minute Men, who are worth talking about because they have attracted several members, have supporters in the mainstream media, and represent a sizable chunk of public opinion -- they're more like a cult. Gay bashing is a serious problem, and the extreme cases of violence and harassment are rooted in a deep cultural bias that exists on many levels. Focusing too much on these attention-grabbing crazies detracts from the real issues that they exploit for face-time on TV.
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