The EE still traces it's heritage to the VE. This community will always have an effect on the EE as a whole. In many ways, though, we've been trying to run contrary to much of what the VE became at the end. The VE, here, will always be home to me. However, to have the flexibility that we required also required a departure from the structure of the VE. I don't think you'll find any former VE member that doesn't miss the VE, but it did not adapt to change and has a great deal of baggage associated with it that colors the nature of it's community. To make the VE viable again would require a complete overhaul, I think. Not just of the systems or infrastructure, but of the people in positions of influence.

Just my drunken two cents.