You know, you're not going to get very far by accepting the undesirable fact as concrete, countering such things with concrete measures, and presenting the whole idea as some sort of situation meant to shun newcomers and the community, alike. And especially the new people coming in here.
Of course, you're also not going to get very far by preaching exactly that, or doing little about it.
There's a lot more at stake than just newcomers appearing to be duller than years' past. If one really wanted it all to end, a new set of strict rules just isn't going to do it. Face it: you're going to have to do a lot more to end it all. So much more that you can't possibly do it in the lifetime of this community. I'm personally accepting that the community as a whole has gotten a little duller lately, and it's not going to change anytime soon. The reason behind me saying that is that imposing new measures much like the ones we have just isn't productive. You can impose measures to control it, maybe, but you can't possibly expect to improve it to a spectacular level unless you work hard for a miracle.
You're going to have to do a lot more than that. Strict rules? Think higher. Posts to preach and give advice? Think higher. Anything that can be possibly be done in this community? Think higher. It's a scope that goes beyond the MB and IRC. You just can't expect to see a solution while working with this limited scope. It's not within the lifetime of this community. Although I find conflict with them, that's why I don't fight against the rules.
Perhaps I'm calling the kettle black here, but it's a point that I wanted to get across. Also, I find that communication by text just isn't adequate for this post. I just can't feel it. It annoys me more dearly than one would think.