Regarding the rules clarification · 3:10pm Dec 20th, 2015
(This one.) As various people have noted in the comments, it seems that leaving a comment on someone's userpage thanking them for (eg) faving a story may well be treated as spam, rather than courtesy. Several authors considerably more experienced than me seem to be unsure about this, so for the moment I see no alternative but to err on the side of caution. As such, I won't explicitly thank you for a fave or follow unless I have something else to add (which is definitely okay). Please accept this post as a (poor) substitute: I really am grateful every time someone chooses to take notice of what I've written. I will, of course, continue to do my best to reply to comments left on my userpage or stories (so if you comment on my fic, you will still get a response), and I'll carry on leaving more specific reviews and feedback on other people's fics. Just don't feel aggrieved if you follow/fave me and don't get an explicit acknowledgement: I have noticed, and I do appreciate it! 
Further proof that just not talking to people is always the safer option. :B
I'm probably going to have to do up one of these blogs soon. I understand the issue from a programmer's viewpoint, but it does still feel a bit like they're condemning common courtesy.
3631337 Or even not existing. Just spending a year dead for tax reasons always struck me as showing a lack of commitment.
3631352 I'm still hoping for an official reply to the question I asked about The Descendant's welcome posts. Several people have noticed it, but there's been no answer yet. On a strict reading of the "clarification" (quotes intentional), those would seem to be ruled out of order, something I'd be sad to see. If there's one person who's known for putting effort into engaging with other users, it's TD. Indeed, it's also TD who inspired me to try to reply to all the comments I got.
Oh carp!
I always thank people for faves! If you get a clarification, you'll post about it, right?
3631675 Yes, of course. For reference, this is my comment. 13 upvotes as I type, which suggests I'm not the only one wondering, but no answer as yet.
On which note, here's The Descendant's own comment there, from which this: "...it really is going to change my whole approach to the site and the community I had enjoyed here." This is exactly what I'm concerned about. If a rule change/clarification pushes out someone like TD, then the odds are good that it's a bad (or at least badly explained) change/clarification.