As I said years back, good posters don't grow on trees. When the site lost a generation of good contributors it meant that new joiners didn't get the benefit of interacting with people who knew their stuff. (Which was the whole point of my RevLeft experience.) Worst case scenario you get a Rafiq - someone who's learning/development has not only been stunted but who is now setting the bar for 'quality' discussion. It's a downward spiral.
We were all thinking it, but none of us could articulate it so eloquently. Yeah, the level of debate and participation has reduced considerably. The board gets new members, but they just don't stick around or bring a particularly in depth knowledge base, so the place is suffering. I was unbanned in 2012 (I think), and it's actually got worse since then.
And apparently long overdue. Call it nostalgia but that sort of clumsy hubris wouldn't have lasted long when the old guard was still around. I'm going to claim that I called it years back.
Your posts to Rafiq were truly beautiful.
