I voted NO.
There's always going to be heated discussions and threads that go off topic. I think that's just the nature of human communication. But for me one of the things the Watch excels at is that most of the time the discussion is on a mature level. I think the most divisive comment some of us make is along the lines of "There he goes again." For the most part the vitriol of some sites (ahem) is simply absent here.
Now, I will say that there does seem to be greater lack of forum participation but frankly that should be expected. The forum design hasn't changed ever. Where are the shinny graphic baubles to lure more folks in? Maybe a new cool RPGWatch main page. The industry knows about us, we get developers in here all the time, but does the general public? However, this off topic rant is clearly off topic. Topic.
So NO, I don't think the quality of our discussions has plummeted at all. Except for that time when the Codex went down for a few days . . . . . . .
There's always going to be heated discussions and threads that go off topic. I think that's just the nature of human communication. But for me one of the things the Watch excels at is that most of the time the discussion is on a mature level. I think the most divisive comment some of us make is along the lines of "There he goes again." For the most part the vitriol of some sites (ahem) is simply absent here.
Now, I will say that there does seem to be greater lack of forum participation but frankly that should be expected. The forum design hasn't changed ever. Where are the shinny graphic baubles to lure more folks in? Maybe a new cool RPGWatch main page. The industry knows about us, we get developers in here all the time, but does the general public? However, this off topic rant is clearly off topic. Topic.
So NO, I don't think the quality of our discussions has plummeted at all. Except for that time when the Codex went down for a few days . . . . . . .