I've been playing this server on and off for little less than a year just playing for 15 minutes here, an hour there. It's a wonderful little dose of nostalgia. I play alone and almost never say anything in chat, so you're not going to see me defending the server when people go ranting. I just ignore it.
I see DMM as a Jumpstart opportunity for a new character because I have little time to put into this game with my busy schedule. I wasn't here for the previous DMM seasons, but looking through the complaints I don't see anything that would stop me from participating all together.
it's pretty neat that this server exists at all, let alone actively developed. You get too deep into the drama and trolls, you'll lose sight of how special a place this is. Seems to me that the negativity comes from a hyper-vocal minority, probably not the sentiment of the wider player base.