When you made the change back to original, did you resubmit the xml sitemap? I would give that a quick try. Also, to see if it is showing, Do a Site:exacturlofchangedpage  on Google. This should show if the page is there but not ranking for some reason.

Thanks for the response Doug. Is there anyplace you have found as a resource that supports this above the fold delineation? I am with you in that it seems reasonable (but I grew up with newspapers ;)) My thoughts are that with the algorithm there would need to be some mechanism to measure that bottom of header - top of footer area [maybe character or word count] and then to calculate that and apply a factor to the content that is weighted higher than a similar factor for the second half. 
It would certainly be easier to game if we new bottom of header to beginning of H2 is 'top of fold' and when there was no H1 or H2, etc. there would be full credit given to page in total. (Then, again, we are at the measure by equation versus placement).

As to the slider, If I am doing a professional practice or a product producer, etc. I try to stay away. With companies that sell a service or product that "look" is a big appeal, it really is helpful. We use a lot of CMS (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal) and test a lot of sliders. Typically,  by the time a plug in slider makes it near the top of the heap, it has been fairly well tested. Slider issues today typically revolve around browser updates and we have standards in place regarding updates due to the impact a failure can have on a client.

We only update after there has been time for the update to be in the marketplace (truly varies so we break it down by type of update). If it is a browser we might well wait 4 to 6 months to see what bugs get worked out. We then test all on the site once updated so the problem is not a surprise. But, again, I rarely see problems with them.

Thanks again,

I was just inspecting a wire frame that is going out to a client and realized that the slider may interfere with the "content above the fold." Can't believe this had not struck me on others.

If the Header has basic business info, etc. in it and you place a slider to display images in the area just beneath the Header or slightly down from it, does that decrease the amount of content seen a being above the fold? Or, is content above the fold established by virtue of H1,2, 3, etc.?

It was funny, Ryan. I agree Matt Cutts videos would be the last thing you need swimming in your head...

From the point of view in the second paragraph, I agree as well. If it was all new content that could drive new customers or drive current customers to buy additionally, I would put it all up as well.

Certainly when it comes to a small component of the algorithm versus money today...show me the money.

Thx

I think the issue is what is the site about and knowing how the content helps. Not just putting quality content up in a vacuum. So, if the site is about custom writing, and there are 4000 pages of examples, I don't think adding an additional 1000 today will help in any appreciable way. If all the content is dissimilar and each page focuses on some different writing item: sports-football, baseball, basketball, etc. and medicine, etc. and you have no content showing that, I would put it all up as well.

I believe if the content is similar to what is on the site, adding it over time (not five years, but one) could have an interesting impact. Not sure if there is a measure currently.

So, issuing the same type challenge, I challenge anyone to prove putting up 1000 pages of content overnight, with no further description of it, will increase site performance appreciably.

Is an interesting question though.