To add to Frogboy's comment above.....some time ago I posted "People will hit me, but.....", a thread about what people were listening to, music-wise.

It was done [tongue in cheek] to liven up what was then quite a dead forum.  I could come in daily and see perhaps a half dozen newly commented threads, and the only real 'action' was with something 'controversial' that attracted the usual flaming, etc.

Currently [I know the forum structure is now different] 'Recent Posts' [72 hours] shows 7 pages of new/newly commented threads.  My old "People will..." thread is plainly superfluous as the Forum has definitely taken on its own life.

The negative side to this is the growth can isolate/alienate some and perhaps lead to cliquish interaction on the part of others. 

This seems to be something endemic with Wincustomize [though maybe I'm more attune to it as I'm here so often] and not outwardly apparent elsewhere [I have been known to show up on other sites' forums - eg. rscnet.org - a racing/sim site - been a member there a year or so].

Thinking back to skinz.org, Deskmod.com, Customize.org [and a half dozen Litestep sites] - the 'big' skinning sites "back when", I can't say I remember any of them having such an undercurrent of 'we are superior cos we are at WC', though there WAS rivalry to a degree as each found their niche.

Deviantart even started out as a skinning site [with a difference], its popularity escalating due to 2 things...clever site interactive design and transition towards alternate 'art' forms, more than 'just' skinning....but for a while there Devart was THE pivotal place for skinning/skin discussion.

What bugs the proverbial out of me is not who decides to leave here, but WHY.

What drives them off?

How much of it is purely natural progression [moving on to commercial time-consuming endeavours] and how much of it is "shit....bunch of arseholes aren't worth my time"?

I know some are now busy elsewhere....but even THEY should still be WANTING to get back here just to interact....yet generally they do not.

Is that due to loss of relevancy with so many new faces around, or is it the underlying atmosphere that is alien to "their time"?

Site forum and skin comment interaction is how to gauge a Community's health and vibrancy, yet so many times it shows to be cancerous.

I know pretty-well everyone is at fault at one level or another, including myself.  My promotion to 'Admin' here was [for me] a real buzz, but it came with an obligation to nurture the Community, assisting with its growth and change/development.  It wasn't in my 'job-brief' to toe any Company partyline, but it just so happened that 'most' of what I thought matched the thinking of the site's owners [so I still have both my legs ... ]

What was/is needed is a general wake-up call to all 2.7 million members that attitudes of one and all must change.

Unfortunately for some, this has been rather precipitous, however arguably quite overdue.

Frogboy's decision to remove site access from those who, by whatever action indicate an intent to depart has my 100% support, not because he owns the site and has ultimate say, but because it is an intelligent pro-active response to an untenable situation.

Ultimately, people will put as much effort into contributing to a site/community's success as they wish to receive from it in interactive friendship, etc.  Once they decide to go it tells the rest of the community this interactive friendship is past.

Here is a very Australian example..... [heed well if ever visiting the antipodes...and wanting a drink in a pub]....

When in a bar in a pub NEVER indicate you do not wish to have another drink by inverting your glass on the bar.   THAT is a formal declaration that everyone else in the bar is unworthy of your drinking with them and is an open invitation to having your facial features readjusted.

Correct protocol [that saves your teeth] is to lay it on its side.

Social/societal interaction is often a delicate balance....one that ALL of us need to redress....