For those who already use the internet, this rant won't stop them.
For the older ones who never use the internet, this won't make any difference.
For as long as they look to recruit highly educated/trained people for bethel and their projects, this restriction is easily shown to be hypocritical. This is like telling someone that they must never have a birthday party, but it's ok to go to one if bethel invite you.
To answer the last point, my parents said it wasn't going to be in their lifetime, and they were right. If we follow Jesus then we won't try to guess when it is because there's no way we can know.
I think they are picking up that more and more are waking up to fact that 1914 was a looooong time ago and JW's have been waiting their whole lives, hearing the same old thing.
Only the willfully blind are now choosing to ignore this, and even then the undercurrents of quiet gossip and complaint are pulling them towards reality.