Fine, you win.Compared to temperate forests? Not so much. Decomposition occurs much faster in rainforests.
From Wikipedia
"Despite the growth of vegetation in a rainforest, soil quality is often quite poor. Rapid bacterial decay prevents the accumulation of humus. The concentration of iron and aluminium oxides by the laterization process gives the oxisols a bright red color and sometimes produces minable deposits such as bauxite). On younger substrates, especially of volcanic origin, tropical soils may be quite fertile."
The power of a rainforest ecosystem is that the high levels of organic matter are cycled rapidly by the abundant and diverse decomposers.
In any case though, bark chips is not a good simulation of what these critters find themselves in in the wild. If I were to use them as substrate I'd figure out some way to get them to decompose, first.
The guys on the other forum may have been patting you on the back for your beautiful pedes, but I don't see much solid advice/debate being exchanged.
Highlighted in bold above - You're right, but at least they didn't flame me. I said it simply shows the gulf between you people in terms of courtesy skills.