I do wish I could entice Ru back in. We keep in touch (just texted each other xmas greetings this week); she says she hasn't been writing much but hopes to get back into it this year. No word on whether that applies to KG, but I will see if I can coax her to finish it. I for one do want to read whatever comes next.
Yeah, all forums wax and wane and membership shifts. That's a natural process, as with any human social construct. No mystery to that part of it. And it tends to be a cumulative effect, a chain reaction: seeing several of the people I enjoyed talking with leave, or come in less often, led to my drifting away as well.