I haven't been in this game that long, compared to some of the long timers on here, but my two cents...

Humans love to complain. The grass is always greener on the other side, and it was always better "way back when," except when it's not.

You constantly hear talk about the glory days of the Mint, but that was only 3 years ago. MS has been around for much much longer. People are already talking about the glory days of Walmart too. Amazon Payments, though never a huge source from MS, is already seen in halcyon colors. Back in 1999, it was chocolate pudding (http://www.snopes.com/business/deals/pudding.asp).

But despite this, there are still a lot of MS avenues out there, and most people don't publicize their routes for fear of them getting shut down. Do you think the pudding guy told everyone what he was doing before he managed to secure a good profit for himself?

In short, the game is always changing. Hearing others talk about "the golden days" will only discourage those new to the game - you'll constantly feel like you *just* missed the golden goose. But that will happen no matter when you join the game. If you're discouraged easily or don't have the energy to put into the game, then be happy for the "easy" routes when they become common knowledge, but know you're on the trailing end. If you persevere and put some energy into it, you'll do better and realize how things works - change is always afoot.

P.S. All of the above can be said for anything in life.