Naruto Shippuden Forum

I honestly am not into Naruto, but from a marketing perspective, this is brilliant: it gives Naruto access to a LOT of people who wouldn't otherwise have ever been exposed to it.
 
What does that mean for a fandom as a whole? Well, I tend to break most anime fans into the following "generations" (roughly): pre-90s (from Speed Racer to Star Blazers), the "movie" generation (when Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Vampire Hunter D brought in a ton of sci-fi/fantasy fans), the Sailor Moon/Dragonball Z generation, the Pokemon generation, and the Naruto generation. (I suspect that many people into Naruto now saw Pokemon when they were kids, though, so there's a lot of blurring there).
 
So what we'll see here is sort of a new surge in the "Naruto generation," who will hopefully advance into other anime and help sales. As such...I approve of the decision.

When you've been an anime fan for something like twelve years, you learn to take the long view. ;) Eventually Naruto will be one of those classics like Slam Dunk or DBZ-- a shounen series of the past, always remembered, but not necessarily "current" anymore.
 
Although DBZ has managed to reinvent itself slightly with Dragon Ball Kai-- if anyone's not familiar, they literally took Z and cut out all the filler. That means filler episodes AND time-stretching stuff from within the episodes. So you've got just the plot/"good stuff" and none of the other junk. I haven't seen it, but I'd be surprised if FUNimation didn't jump at yet another chance to print DBZ-- and I'd consider watching it, where I would be really hard-pressed to find interest in watching DBZ in its original form.
 
It's possible that Naruto could do something like that some ten years after it ends, too. Or even sooner-- everything happens so much faster these days!