I may be new here; but I am not new to message boards. I am not new to chat rooms either. I have seen the bitter disappointed departure posts of others from PM (I usually spend some time trying to take in the local "culture" I am trying to butt into before I do so).

What you describe seems to be the fate of every single open ended community I've been in. It is as if online communities have the reverse development of a human, they start out mature and polite and devolve into puberty as time goes, with an increasing level of childishness, banter and self-celebration.

I do not have any solution to offer; I merely post to point out that it seems to be the inevitable development. I do not like it either, but in my experience, you can only stoically endure it, ignoring the idiocy and simply sticking to the interesting bits. If none are left it is time to move on, but I expect it will take a very long time until there is nothing of real interest to read on PM. Of course, I haven't noticed this trend here yet - after all, reading up on the past life on PM or not, I still am new. And so far I find PM to be a great resource. You probably feel differently after having been here for so long and remembering it being a better yet place. Even so, I am sure you can still find plenty that interests you, if you choose.

I am not trying to change your mind. All I mean to do is possibly ease your disappointment. I personally have come to accept as a fact of life that an increasing level of stupidity in whatever incarnation is part of the way forums and chatrooms work; so I try not to let that get in the way of my own enjoyment.

You will have to pick whichever way works best for you, of course.