No it isn't, it's decreasing activity. People will be less obliged to post if they think they have to strictly talk about the topic, and that they can't maybe have a second conversation in the topic itself. While the main topic is still being talked about. If it's massive spam and flaming I agree, but I'm afraid to even point out something funny in a post or ask somebody a question that's off topic because I've been infracted for it. Doesn't really make sense, you want to increase activity but still are infracting minor posts so people won't post as much. There's a difference between spamming, and talking to somebody in a thread that's responded to you, or pointing something out that's funny.
Thread like "Where did name here go?" have to stay on topic, but I don't agree with giving out infractions for minor things in every little thread, or in other words micro-managing all the posts.