Just popping in to comment on the personal info issue. I can’t really speak for everyone so this is a partial answer.
Many years back we were not all aware of the things people could do with personal information gleaned online. We had no idea what the little bits people gathered could snowball into, and we also had many young posters who were not always aware how much information they were disclosing. For that reason, we tried not to let people “milk” others for info (milking was pre phishing), we tried not to let people over-share their own info, and we tried not to let people solicit communication because we had no idea who many of these posters were and did not want others to think that because they posted frum things, they were actually Gd fearing people.
Things have changed drastically. People put all kinds of things online now even though people steal identities and solicit personal information for nefarious reasons. But people are also more aware. Many people have their names and profiles out there under the same username they use for the CR here so google can tell you things that we would not have posted.
For this reason, I think we have been more flexible about allowing posters to post their own info, but still careful about protecting identities and not allowing posters to be harassed for information they may not want to give out.
On a side note, links are still unlinked because, unfortunately, computer addictions of all kinds have proliferated over time and a closed space can be a safe space.