The two about death are the only ones that matter. You also get a huge pass on a lot of social expectations for being a foreigner, especially if you make even a small attempt to conform and be polite.

Oddly enough it's not the first time I've seen their perceived recent drop in quality blamed on this. Just weird that it's happened twice - wonder where this narrative is coming from.

No, their quality has been dropping since the acquisition; it's just now gotten to the point where it cannot be explained away.

It's not just gotten to the point it can't be explained away. The best technical articles on the site have been the bio-horror shock material they pump out every month, and it's been that way for years.

When they started doing car reviews where "GM didn't pay for this car review, they just paid for a car review." everyone should've clued in.

I'm a senior dev and not sure I could answer that offhand.