With all due respect, the place got mean and nasty way before that. I lurked here for 2 yrs or so before 2001 so I remember well. In fact, the viciousness was one of the MAIN reasons it took me so long to sign up.
The breaking point for me was during the Terri wars, which make the current kerfuffle look like a picnic. At that time, the mods just let kookery and nastiness run wild. That’s when I stopped giving to FR.
I may still post here, but I refuse to financially enable such unhinged, unchecked, frothing-at-the mouth “conservatism”.