I don't know. Back when I joined and now I don't see much difference to be honest. Perhaps because I don't go far on forums and read only sections I'm interested in.
Personally I don't see any catastrophe here, it seems to me that some people just tend to make as if there is something horrible going on. If they want to stress the community with shocking "door-closing-sound" I don't mind. People come, people go. Cynical, I know. But people come mostly for their own personal reasons and leave because of the same on their own.
I don't care for people coming out in game quoting rules (sometimes non-existent) in system chat. I don't even bother to respond, that's not my problem if they don't know the rules, I know rules myself and that's enough for me. If it's a clueless new player who seem to be a friendly one I don't hesitate to help. But if it's yet another person on a battleship I'm not wasting my time arguing. Simple enough.
People tend to make a stress situation when there is no reason for one.
