This is exactly what happened to Literature.SE and a couple of other sites I dipped into (although Lit.SE was my most active, and I was in the top 10 users ther

This is exactly what happened to Literature.SE and a couple of other sites I dipped into (although Lit.SE was my most active, and I was in the top 10 users there before it closed). The moderation was harsh and it led to questions being mundane, tedious or boring - and a race to get the "right answer" in (with little effort on quality). Opinion was stamped on and it was clear that SE was looking for mindless answer-drones and not a community with opinions and views. Unsurprisingly, Lit.SE died a death after less than a year.