Ahem, this is sort of me jumping the gun, because I haven't exactly read the entire post in detail, nor am I familiar with the situation - I stopped playing due to school and other factors about 2 or 3 years ago, I think - I only remember the transition to 3D and a bit after that. (... What's a Z-level?)
Mm. I don't mind the new people and environment, I guess that's what I am trying to say. While influence from otherworld does make the new dwarves babble random memes, it's just personal preferences and how they choose to act on internet. We can all act like we are bunch of idiots, but when we want to have dwarf-like discussion, we discuss things like a dwarf - Not the kind that wants turtle shell and whines and eventually go on homicide rampage, but the kind that... Erm, perhaps that's a bad example.
Well, I guess I -am- somewhat at loss as to how the general discussion becomes like this. But I understand everyone to actually be rational, sound in mind, and is just being stupid for the sake of being stupid. Having a place for the purpose of venting stupidity is like having 4chan on internet. It's not going to spill over to rest of the board - we are all intelligent enough to play Dwarf Fortress (Right? ... Right?) and all have the guts to stand rampaging hoards of elephants trampling over them dorfs and sending flying bits everywhere, so I don't see a problem.