This comment by Tasha is an interesting point. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=88804944&postcount=582

"Basically the playlist management. While I'll agree there have been a good amount of SMH moments, 343 has been slowly undoing Infinity. The problem is that at this point it seems that the majority of those still playing prefer Infinity settings, sadly. There are way more options for non Infinity fans in MM than there were earlier this year."

Can I/should I infer from this that every step 343i took away from Infinity settings also had a negative impact on the population? It is a fact that 343i did a ton to connect with and accommodate communities who were against Infinity settings all the while the players in MM were predominately choosing to play the original Infinity game type vision? It cannot be denied that hard core Halo does not attract or hold the greater community. Playlist populations have never failed to tell the truth of this. Did 343i's lack of confidence in their own vision chase people away?

You also mentioned it in your article, a lot of community sub groups got shafted with the failings associated with fileshares, campaign/SpOps films and etch like Race groups. I believe those failings had a bigger impact on the community than most people realize.