@James Keenan: They want to eliminate all ways of communciation where they can't show you ads and can't track your every move. That kind of communication only costs them, but doesn't actually bring them anything in. That's why they're killing automatic imports - so you actually have to visit their site to do stuff.
It can also be a part of strategy to deal with spam and information overload in general. If it won't happen automatically, but you actually have to spend time posting stuff, you'll think twice what you actually publish - and what isn't even worth a copy&paste operation.
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