To be fair when this thread was at it's best, a couple of years ago, we could have rational discussions where we all might agree on some things and maybe disagree with others. But that got lost along with probably more than half of the then regular posters falling by the wayside......
If by rational you mean never ending pouring tons of turd on each other and primarily on L&P, then, yeah, good ol' times.
I'm more than sure that most of the folks still lurk on this thread time to time to know what's up. There's not that much to talk about, really. AWAM's issues only got worse. 0.115 update - 3 months with 3 events, 1/3 of PD. 0.175 - 3 months, 1 event, 1/10 of PD.
Everything else is irrelevant. New haircut - doesn't matter. Dev's relocation - his personal life, shouldn't be anyone's concern. All I see is that an implementation of animations slowed down development even further. Professional teams in here are able to create 8-10 min vids within 1-1.5 month. L&P and his buddy are only capable for a 20 sec piece in the approximate timeframe. That speaks volume. Although those teams are usually 2-4 animators, the quality and pace of production are on another level, not to mention that they're fully voiced, having meaningful conversations and not only panting and moaning.
The fact that L&P bickers with his audience in here, on the pirate forum, has an impact on the thread as a whole. Some dev's actively participating on F95, although they could've easily ignored it. But a lion's share of their supporters came from places like this, so they realize it's importance.
AWAM has it's steady paying fan base. That allows it's creator to tread on the thin ice and test the limits of "how far can he go". 0.180 with 200+ renders and 1.5 month (excluding relocation and holidays). If that seems a bit too long, can't wait for 0.185/0.190 to take 5+ months, exactly the same amount of time as 0.100, which was 1/2 of PD11 and people were loosing their minds back then. Careful what you wish for, dudes.