>>Have others (besides JVP) expressed intentions to leave because of the new policy? And, as an aside, I don't think JVP left because of a policy change, but rather because of run ins with other personalities. I will miss JVP's technical input as well, but I know where to find it if I need it. I will not miss the ugly battles that he seems to be the constant in, so my feelings at his departure are mixed indeed.
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>JVP left. I'm considering a vastly reduce presense here actively; it has nothing to do with the blue envelope or paying for a PUTM, but with the signs of a dying community here. I like UT, but it gets tiresome after a while, and the S/N ratio here is rapidly degrading to the point that the newsgroups seem like a viable option.

I'm growing tired of the noise as well. But in all of the record setting "noisy" threads there were one or two participants that were constants. I am willing to bet that the majority of the "noise" left with one of them. At least the noise here isn't as bad as the "watch my dog screw my girlfriend" crap you get in a public newsgroup, and being worried about spam (the mother of all evils). And if you look at the volume of the most active VFP newsgroups, they don't get 10% as much traffic as the UT does.

>At least my newsreader implements a twit filter. I can't speak for others, but I'd guess that some of the other active participants, MVP or not, are not happy with what is happening here.

I agree. But I hope that you'll stick around to see if your predictions of decline are correct. If I had to predict, I'd say we're due for a quick recovery.