Well before this goes let me say this is why people are leaving AB, not because of nastiness as that has always been around and used to be 100 times worse. It's because unless you want to follow and faun over the same 2 or 3 people it's so sanitised it's boring.
It's a different type of nastiness now though Prudie, before it was drunken souls having a pop at folks they didn't like etc and all was largely forgotten, now it's literally turning into a right wing hate fest no matter what question is posed, somehow it comes around to Muslims, transgender people and immigrants and frankly it is nasty and it is off putting to new and current members alike.
That generally only happens in news (and there are plenty of other discussions on Brexit and the Torys) or the R&S area. I've not noticed anyone leaving who gets involved in those. I maintain it's the posters who didn't get into spats much who have gone - there is really little else left that's entertaining. This will go too.
You'd get a lot less threads removed and bitching on site if we had private messaging on here tbh, then people could privately have a pop at one another at least.
I'd still maintain that the reason AB is dying is that it's largely been superseded by its competition. There are some sizeable groups in the Crossword Section, ChatterBank and R&S, but people who mainly want answers are probably going to find them much more easily elsewhere now than when the site began.
Now the site is becoming more and more "meta", too. So many debates about other members, the anonymous mods, etc.
I blame it on over moderation. I'm really fed up with threads disappearing because of someone's/anyone's delicate sensibilities. Most of the regulars don't like this turn of events yet I doubt the powers that be take notice. I know numbers are dwindling for various reasons, but I'm tired of looking and seeing that interesting conversations or debates aren't allowed to continue. Yes, some get feisty...but we are, for the most part adults...yet we are not treated as such.
I'd like the editors to open a debate about the over moderation...and to listen to our opinions.