@lynx - excellent intro note to the new topic.
A suggestion for your consideration: The new topic feels "backward facing" to me, focusing on the history.
I would be tempted to move the first couple paragraphs (everything down to "This is a new thread for continued discussion...") from the top to the bottom of the post, perhaps with a heading of Project History
That allows a newcomer to see a clear description of today's cake-autorate with links to the history if they're curious. Thanks