I've been a regular on several message boards for 5-6 years. I have been on the staff of several of them, and have been Admin on three boards. I'm current an Admin on one of the largest/busiest commercial sites online (top 100 on BigBoards), and I own my own board that I consider extremely successful. I state the above because I doubt I'm very well known here, but wanted to explain that I feel my opinion comes with a background of experience and success with message boards in general.
That being said, I've noticed a gradual downhill trend in posting habits (not just volume, but quality of posts and members) for the last two years or so. I don't think it is just a TFP problem. Just like the networks are losing market share and ratings, message boards are doing the same. Part of it has to do with choices. There are so many boards out there, and so many options, that boards that have been around a long time are seeing less posts and quality threads than was common in years past.
As far as TFP specifically, I think there are a few things that could be tweaked. In general it is a great board. The politeness and respect shown by the members exceed that shown on the vast majority of boards out there.
The fact that threads get locked for previous threads being on the same subject could/should be adjusted IMO. When I first started posting more often here, I had a thread or two locked because there was supposedly conversation on the same subjects previously. The previous conversations were many, many months buried in the forums. I scanned the first couple of pages before posting, but they were located even deeper than that. To me, if conversation has not been continued or active for long enough that it is beyond the first couple of pages, maybe it isn't so bad to get a new one started.
Also, I am a proponent of fewer, but more active, sub-forums. I think the forums here are well organized, but some of them are extremely slow. Maybe some of them were made without the volume of posts to support them? Or maybe the interest was once there, but isn't now?
Neither of those are huge problems really, just minor issues. I think the main "problem" isn't TFP-driven, but internet driven. Message boards everywhere are seeing similiar issues. The best resolution is high activity by staff, a continuation of most of the policies already in place, and a willingness to listen to and pay attention to the members' thoughts and opinions.
Though I've probably never been a "regular" here, I've always admired the spirit and attitude of this place.
