I've been here for 12 years now.  Still seems like a friendly place to me.  I just think back about my first few years with Poser and how arcane it all seemed.  So many new file types to learn, the runtime structure and where everyting goes...  Trying to figure out which 3d format was the best for interchange among other programs...  Vertex orders and .bum files...

A lot of that stuff is common knowledge now, or at least seem like it would take far less time to figure out.  Everybody uses .obj format.  Most everyone seems to understand UV mapping now and terms like topology and normals... 

The hobby just doesn't seem to have the pitfalls, and upheaval it once did.  New releases tend to be evolutionary, less often revolutionary.  Poser is friendlier, and can do far more than it could before.  We can rig figures in Poser now, convert clothing in Poser now.  I don't feel limited by my inability to parse a text file, it is no longer an obstacle in my way as it once seemed.  If it seems there are less people asking questions maybe it is because there are more people able to give the correct answers.  The knowledge level of the coummunity as a whole is greater, and more people feel comfortable attempting things on their own.

That said, I didn't use to feel very in tune with the community's taste in genres.  I prefer power armor to suits of armor, spaceships to pirate ships, hover bikes to flying horses.  There never was much content I wanted to buy aside from occasional new hairstyles and "street" clothing.  And the stuff I did like was more likely to inspire a project than a purchase.