I have never been a big fan of the "MN has changed, I remember when it were all fields round here....." posts - I always felt that change and evolution were inevitable, and that, on the whole, the changes were positive, and that MN had stayed the same at heart.
But I'm not sure I feel that way any longer. I think the site has become much more of a commodity - basically all the advertising feels to me as if we, the members, are being sold, en masse, as an audience for the advertisers. In and of itself, this isn't a bad thing - it means that the site has stayed free for its users and hasn't had to charge. But I do feel as if it was the first real sign of MNHQ caring less about what the members felt, and more about the advertisers - I remember people complaining about the advertising banners, and the intrusiveness of them, but they have been left to stand, and have impacted on the experience of the site, in my opinion.
MN is its members. The only reason that MNHQ can raise advertising revenue is because the members of this site have a reputation as intelligent and influential (even if only because there are so many of us). If the quality of the site deteriorates, the advertisers will drift away.
In the past, MN has been full of intelligent, well read, witty, clever, caring, supportive, funny people. Yes, there were trolls and arseholes too, and some nastiness and bitching - but on balance, the decent side of MN won out over the idiots and nastiness. My fear is that we have lost, or are losing, enough of the good posters that the balance has shifted - we are close to the tipping point where the kind, thoughtful, supportive, funny posts will no longer be the majority. If this happens, the decent posters will drift away in ever greater numbers, which will in turn accelerate the decline of the quality of the postings - it's a vicious cycle.
I still read and post on MN, but nowhere near as much as I used to - recent changes in the layout of Last Hour and Last Week have meant that I can't see anywhere near the number of threads I used to, so I know I'm missing out on seeing threads I might otherwise have read and posted on, and it seems pointless to come here if I am not going to see what's happened here.
I value MN - it has meant a lot to me over the years - I have made friends here, learned things, given and received a lot of support, and had many, many laughs, but it feels as if that's finished now.