Why the past tense? Kuro5hin.org is still online. Is this article lamenting a loss of quality, or the loss of the sense of intrigue and community associated wi

Why the past tense? Kuro5hin.org is still online. Is this article lamenting a loss of quality, or the loss of the sense of intrigue and community associated with any small or secretive club? I'm not convinced quality has suffered, only that more people using them leads to more articles and more debate, destroying the sense that one is in the know on all the (smaller number of) news items from the day, and that their opinion is important (because there are less people to debate it).