This thread hit home, but not just due to the decline of official responses. Here are my two cents on the matter:
- Looking at some old AH posts it seems that a lot of the “old guard” is no longer employed. Whatever the reason may be for that, I believe the team has been re-organized quite a bit to the detriment of forum interaction (I don’t really care much about AH due to reasons previously discussed, it’s not a place that can facilitate any sort of community)
- The live streams have become more “sterile”. No offense to anyone involved in them nowadays, but the whole thing feels more distant and impersonal.
- Even the existing responses of the staff feel more “official”. I understand being casual is a slippery slope since people will rip apart everything you say, but it’s still something I feel was lost.
- The new forum software / layout is… well… it’s bad. Even when we disregard conformity and the fact that this place just doesn’t “feel like home”, a ton of features are clunky and the whole user experience has been downgraded. I believe the current forum software is actively pushing away people.
I could obviously be wrong on all of these, this is just my impression.