[dmethvin]

> When sites get larger, both in members and staff, the gap tends to grow between the people that build the site and the people that use it.

If you want to know why products slowly degrade and eventually die, that is the best answer you will ever find. Developers need to have input from real-life users in order to make the product better. Jobs was right to say that "people don't know what they want", but they surely know what bothers them about the products and services they use.