Yes, it is a business, but it is a business that depends on the work and good will of the people who write here, who are not employees and should not be treated as such.
Clearly the team has the right to make decisions any way they choose, but it's never a good idea to treat people as though their feelings and views don't matter.
Sometimes decisions must be made, but there is a right and a wrong way to make and move on them.
Case in point is the fact that while we were warned a week or two ago that groups would be deleted, there was no immediate warning.
In my case, it happened right in the middle of an update I was doing. One minute the groups were there, and the next they were gone!
Seems to me that it would have been more considerate for the team to put a message to all writers on the stats page that at such and so a time on such and so a day groups will stop functioning. At least that way, there would not have been a shock factor.
Anybody with a business background, of whom I am one, will tell you that a company is only as successful as the way its employees feel about it.
I have not liked many of the decisions that have been made here in recent times, but I understand why the team made them.
What I don't understand is why they continue to insult and demean the intelligence of those who write here by not clearly explaining why they do what they do.
Time and again I have read statements from people on the forums that make it clear that they are left "wondering" about different issues. The answer always seems to be to "read the Learning Center", but not all of the answers are clearly stated there.
I was very upset about the groups and even emailed the team begging them to reconsider. They never responded. Now, I have come to terms with the change and have found some ways to work around them, although it is more work for me.
I no sooner accepted that issue, than another, much more serious one popped up that I think will be very damaging to one of the new niche sites. I found myself saying, once again, "WHAT can they be thinking!"
