it will always seem as if the quality of new stories is deteriorating, and there is a simple explanation for that: when you read an old story you will certainly pick one that has a good rating. many others read it before, and they rated it. you can be pretty sure it is a good story. new stories, on the other hand, do not have that many readers yet (that's why they are new), so you will have no idea which one to read and will read the good ones as well as the bad ones, which gives the overall effect that the quality is declining