I've not noticed any great decline from last year, although I would agree the journals section is too quiet.

This is a relative newbie postulating, but I feel like this "decline" you speak of may simply be caused by members you're familiar with growing tired of reading the same debates and regurgitating the same opinions month after month. I mean, there's only so much you can say about the "classics" (and I don't mean classic rock, I mean any highly-regarded, often-discussed artist that fills any particular niche) before you've seen and said it all. At that point, you just stop discussing the classics.

I mean, yes, you can still use MB to pick up recommendations and discover music, but that is far less interactive than the aforementioned discussion.

Honestly I can't say I find anything particularly irregular with the way MB has been recently. And I can honestly find no complaints on my end. MB, has and will always be, to me, a infinite source of music that I can turn to whenever I need, and hopefully I can be able to contribute towards that as well.

I think the problem is when people start looking at the find print of the forum, and delving into too many formal technicalities that annoyance arise. Ok, so there are those that post in the shoutbox, ok, so there are those that love to talk about instruments, and sure there are those who distribute one liners like candy on halloween. But, in my opinion, it is all of these that collectively make the forum what it is. Sure there are those that don't contribute to the forum as much as others, myself included, but to make a thread about the forum's decline, when it is clearly extremely active seems a bit of a hyperbole to me.

Of course, the mods that are currently here aren't going to be here forever, it's a given, but there are so much more terrific members with a wealth of musical knowledge that would love to step their game up and be a part of the team to make MB a better place.

I for one won't give up on the respectability of this site so easily, it still flourishes in my book.

Thats the best answer yet. I feel that way when talking about well known albums with my friends. We know exactly where each other stands so theres really no progress that can be made by talking about it. I think thats a good thing though, because then you realize its time to branch out and listen to something different.

I don't really see what the fuss is about, but maybe I just find my own way to be entertained on here. I've taken the point in about youtube videos though, it's good to know that they are useless without a few words of explanation.

Seeing Urban's username in black is really, really weird.

I think there is just as much, if not more, activity on here currently than at any point in the last two years. That being said, that activity is not nearly as interesting or productive as it once was. Less and less people are actually discussing music it seems.

Can I just say I disagree about the shoutbox causing problems? Dayvan was never ostracised, and there are plenty of times I've seen people welcomed with open arms. The only person that really caught any flak in there recently was dirty.

Edit: As for activity, I think this is a prime reason we need a frontpage. It'd certainly help make the subforums more active, as opposed to just the lounge.

I strongly agree with this point, of course!

This is a real problem for me as well and I hate this situation .. I haven't given up entirely yet, but the lack of backing by admins is a real pain. If MB had been for sale and affordable for me, I'd consider buying it just so that the community would get more control of the site.

I believe the main issue with the journals is that people just feel that no one reads them at all. I do, and to be honest I really don't read them as much as I should.

Regarding "Shoutbox People", which are obviously some sort of hideous cliquey animals, I really think that the issue is that it's much easier to post in the shoutbox, and all sorts of trolls and new members who only seek to disturb the forum have their go at doing it there.
What I find quite amusing is the amount of people that worship these kinds of members as if they were comical geniuses. I find it disrespectful and in all honesty, immensely stupid.

Another issue which I'd like to discuss is the creation of idiotic, pointless threads in The Lounge in order to bring some life into the forum in some way. It might seem like a good idea, but try to do that in the general music forum instead, I'm sure they'd get posted in and the content wouldn't be absolutely preposterous.
Just so I don't get attacked I mean threads like the "One Word Post Thread" and "Last Poster Wins".

I agree that these kind of threads are idiotic. I can't see the attraction of posting on-topic in a one-word thread at all and I view such threads mostly as distractions. I wouldn't personally mind if they were all gone.