Here is my main criticism. In the past, the lounge and the muppet show were in together. They changed the rules so that if a topic was serious people put a * in the title. It meant that the banter people and the lounge people mixed in together and many threads were more entertaining. For me it wasn't the threads I was interested in which were the best ones but the ones which seemed very dull but then developed into something much better.
S4E was a bit like going down the pub. You had the whole immature and gross thing with crab lungs posting tub girl every five minutes and no one took it particularly seriously, even on the main board. There was relentless ****taking which was probably the best part with new posters having to catch on quick or they became victims themselves.
In many ways TSW is a victim of its own success. Its become more mainstream and legitimate (even the club use it) and widely known. More children use it and as a consequence you can't have any of the adult content or conversations anymore. Anything controversial or developing into comedic ****taking is swiftly locked before it gets going. In the old days there were tons on "golden" threads that you wouldn't mind revisiting to get a laugh. How many genuinely hilarious threads do you get now? I can't think of any since TSW was created. I realise many people will say that's not what the saints board is for, but for me and a few others it was the best part of the original forum so it's a shame.
That's not to say that I don't think the forum is good. It's great to find out info, get opinions on news amongst other things. It's just lacking quite a bit from what it used to be. Is it a crime to think that?