Neighborhood stories stop working after a while

Okay, so it's not just me. I went a whole Sim week without checking the mailbox, expecting there to be a lot, only to be told nothing had happened. I did take about a month break (beyond logging in long enough to get the Christmas stuff). When I stopped playing, I still wasn't getting a lot. Before that, there was a Moriah sim (not the one that came with an expansion, as they have long since been dead), and some male sims were the main things that showed up. It was always friends-related, and towards the end, there wouldn't be a second sim involved. I would be like "Moriah and _____ have a closer friendship" with the blank there, no name. I feel like either it just started degrading over the last few months in my save, or one patch partly broke it, and the more recent one completely broke it. If they need a save, it's the same one that I just submitted for the multigenerational. I told them they were welcome to use that save for other bugs as well, and I specifically mentioned the one where Prom completely disappeared from the game.

Edit: I also rarely get phone calls about jobs and relationships anymore, and they're only from other played households, not townee friends.