Great article. You hit a lot of the main points. I think flagging and downvoting still has a long way to go to empower folks in the right way while still avoiding abuse to people.
I'm in it for the ling run now. I was one of the people who came, left, and luckily came back. I might have so much motmre SP if I had just remained active but I was disillusioned for a while before coming back.