Why the experience nerf

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

A new member does not know who the old guard are either. Hence, the old guard have to earn the respect of the new member just as much as the new member has to earn the respect of the old guard.

I tend to disagree. New members are expected to learn and follow the norms of the community, not vice versa. Rules are made so that THEY can make a transition into membership with as little fuss as possible. For some, this is obvious... for others, an anathema. The former become respected voices, the others become charcoal briquettes with a lovely "banned" tattoo on their ... um... "ash". It is up to the newcomer to earn his place, not the community to adapt to anyone that walks through the door: they're not Jesus, and we do the lecturing around here (usually to each other, sometimes at high volume). ;)

My belief is that so long as a forum has a healthy influx of new members, you have to continually act in such a way to gain respect, or else you'll soon find your "status" lost as the new outnumber the old.

Our respect is earned when our community's norms are followed. I would change your sentence to be "so long as a forum has an influx of new healthy members": There are those of said "influx" that can "de-flux" with a boot-heel between their gluts; the others are more than welcome. It is up to the newcomer to determine which group he resides in.

The balance is that the "old" members must remain true to the norms of the community as well. If they step outside of it, they'd find themselves removed as well. The Admins would take into consideration their overall contribution to the forums, certainly... but you can only bend the rules so far before you find you've broken your own back. Most, if not all, of the "old" crowd know this... and so their need to "continually act in such a way [as to] gain respect" is held firm by simply continuing to act as they've always done.

Attempts to "recapture the old days" by trying to exclude new members are infact very unhealthy to a community over the long term, because new members evaluate people on their current actions. Without such impetus, people's behaviour tends to degrade unnoticed over a period of time until a once good community goes bad.

I don't see that. I see a community moving forward continually, within the parameters of the forum's existence, and enforcing the general will that the-norms-as-they-have-been shall always be. I don't consider that a counter-productive activity.

*tips helm*