I haven't been here the past year but things do seem different.

It feels like There are less interest checks being posted, and way more variations on the same idea (post-apocolyptic military survival, anyone?), fewer fandom-based rps, and...what happened to the friend system? I can't find my friends list.

There also used to be way more canons that were developed enough to be more than "I had this very basic idea but I haven't filled in the gaps yet" but less excessive than "here are a couple on 3000 word essays on the lore, history, setting, religion, government, races, technology..." Nowadays those seem to be the only two kinds of canon you find.