I agree with you and believe the change is due not only to management / moderator attitude but the narrowing value of FF programs themselves. FT has morphed from a generous tip-sharing community to a tense, possessory, and exclusionary arena whose most vigorous voices are animated by the scarcity of FF perks and benefits. FT today wants to hoard the wealth, not share it. This is a tonal problem in the short term and a business problem for Internet Brands in the long term. FT repels a lot of people.

If I ran FT would revise moderator guidelines to counter this existential threat. A "community" that roasts newbies instinctively, mocks all but the most involved and complex queries, and deletes or censors a good deal of contributed, legitimate content without consistent or transparent rationale cannot look forward to a long and happy lifespan.