Thread made occasionally interesting, regularly ridiculous reading. I wish I'd signed up earlier so I had more of a grasp on what you guys really loved about those slightly earlier days.
To counter Will-O's point about the lack of "casual anime fans" being the problem, I actually think it's totally the opposite. In the last couple of years anime forum discussion has been pushed even more towards the "hardcore" (ie. discussion of new shows and releases) in large part due to increased availability of streaming, and also because licenses in the US have picked up again after the indutry nearly died. The lack of people who actually want to discuss these is more of a problem from an "anime discussion" point of view.
As for the general chat/flamewars/casual discussion that used to take place, this inevitably goes in cycles based on your current roster of active posters, there's little you can do on any forum aside from attracting new regs, which is generally helped by things such as the reviews and site content.
edit: also, the last two months have had 9000+ combined posts. It's easily the worst time in the last year to be having the "the forum is dying" discussion.
Rui said:
So, let's hear more on how Jayme and Spyro have been getting 'close'? :O
Ahahahaha, bad.