I will amend that. The board may not have been created because of that, but the rift was. Many people were posting at both places before that. That incident caused a group to cease posting here.
I will agree that another reason there is less activity here is because of Facebook, Twitter, etc. Many of us have met people IRL. Part of the early fascination with this site was wondering who was who. Then we had the outings. People met each other. FB made it easy to keep in touch. So that took away from a lot of what made the board.
I didn't mean to launch a State of The Board summit. I just wanted someone to clarify the banishment criteria, which in my estimation was knee-jerk, sorely misdirected and would apply to just about all of us. Jeff has said several times here and in private that's not the case. I believe him, and realize it takes time to get to know this dysfunctional corner of the Internet. Besides, it's not like it's a well-kept secret which posters/trolls are universally despised, and it's not like said posters are shy about being trolls or assholes.
See, I never understood the reasoning behind the creation of the other board (of which I am an original invited member) but I find it pretty hard to believe that SJ.com was abandoned by a group of people en masse and another site established because of the actions or perceived actions of one person who was neither an owner nor a moderator at the site. YF's version of events seems more likely to me because as I recall there was a lot of cliquishness at the time. But you know what? It's over. People can post wherever they please. A bunch of people post on both boards. Who fucking cares?
Not only that, but the rift over that incident had mostly to do with the failure to ban a poster who was suspected of the action, for whom their was no evidence to suggest as much. When their call for his scalp went unheeded do to this lack of evidence, but hurt ensued.
A moderator WHO, thank you. And yet, you're back. Are you back to contribute or complain about perceived slights from the past? Some complaints are valid, some are not. Some we handle, some we don't handle quite as well. We're human, too. Just because you complain, doesn't make it legit. That goes for all of us, me included.
Because some couldn't care less doesn't mean the incident wasn't a legitimate concern. It is over and done with, but there were casualties.