They are protecting their own interests at the expenses of yours.
that's also true. but i like Bitstamp, so i would prefer if it wasn't deserted immediately
it's been looking for a long time like Bitstamp was deserted. i left there in september 2013 and never looked back. horrible engine, bad liquidity. and liquidity/volume has only gotten worse there over time.
Yeah, I left around that time, sometime in fall 2013 anyway. It was around the time that they started requiring verification. Turned out to be a good choice in the long run. I'm on Okcoin and Bitfinex now.