I agree, it seems as though a lot of the more like minded members who are more "legit" have made their way here while a lot of irrelevant people got left behind. If they are serious about contributing and interacting with the community they will, like you said the user base will continue to grow but for the most part seems like a lot of the "Real" ones have already developed communities here which is good because now there's a great foundation steer direction in. For the most part overall I like this change and think it was much needed.
True. Unfortunately toxicity follows everywhere, but, with the foundation already set I think this community will grow into a better fruit than the other.