I can remember the articles of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were crap, but at least they were more substantial crap than what is served now. Most of the focus was avoiding fornication at all costs. Anything that had even a tenuous link to sex was bad. They also worried about demons a lot. Gossip and slander (common nowadays) was a hot topic. Of course, there was the do-more crap and the lines about the crocodile waters and the people renting a helicoptor at a cost of $600 per boasting session to keep people in.
Now, it is so much more about those damn apostates. They want people to stay away from the Internet--I noticed that change about 1997. They are worried that people will Google the Watchtower Society and find more independent sources. Research is rarely one source--they will hit the first site (the official site) and several more (the apostate ones).
And it is more about force now. Back then, they were scaring people that they were going to die if they left. Now, if anyone tries to leave, they will hound and harass them into staying. Most often, they will use the network of "friends(??)" to keep them in. They try to get people into a total network where their friends, job, and living quarters are all contingent on staying in. And they are threatening with hounding calls for people that so much as miss even one boasting session or that attempt to have independent Bible studies or use independent sources to verify accuracy of the Bible, the NWT, or Watchtower doctrine. As to the effectiveness, I still find plenty of witlesses arguing on MySpace on doctrine (and they are not supposed to have MySpace accounts at all).
I wonder when it is going to come down to methodical recapture of anyone that is inactive. They will check publisher records, and anyone that hasn't been to a boasting session will be physically dragged (and maybe even hosted, like some of the more dangerous cults have been known to do just before handing out the Kool-Aid). If anyone goes to a boasting session to avoid this, they will be grabbed at that time. There will be no more disassociations--send a disassociation letter, and they will physically snag you. At the rate they are going now, that could be the only way they can keep their membership in 7 figures--and it could well end the way of Jonestown or Waco.