That, too, has its origins in Google's decision to focus on authority. That opened the gates to SEOs being able to acquire authority signals without actually be

That, too, has its origins in Google's decision to focus on authority. That opened the gates to SEOs being able to acquire authority signals without actually being an authority or hosting authoritative content. The topic-specific forum with thousands of pages of detailed user-generated guides and content doesn't have the social media following, domain authority, etc. that Google considers to be "authoritative". Meanwhile, the SEO-spammed trash can easily acquire backlinks and followers to game the system. Get rid of these authority markers and go back to a more organic web if you want to save search.