The thoughtful discussion is 100% the reason I come to Hubski. I come here because Hubski never fails to deliver stimulating posts and conversation, and that makes this place an oasis from all the other noise on the internet.

I mention the intimidation factor in part because the experimental delay alleviated a lot of my apprehension about commenting, and also because I've noticed a lot of long-time users expressing that they feel the quality of discussion has changed somehow. As a newer user, I don't have a frame of reference to make a comparison between present day Hubski and how things may have been in the past.

mk has pointed out that there was a dip in the general respectfulness of interaction, but the comments on the posts discussing the changes to the site suggest several Hubski veterans see lack of user engagement/activity as the problem. As an outsider, I suspect these two phenomena are related, but I'm curious about what users with longer tenure think - and I'm especially curious about the perspective of other longstanding users who tend not to participate.