So it's been my experience that small sites do better with fewer forums. I'm sure there's some optimal number of forums per active user, and maybe somebody will go out there and figure it out, but whatever the case is, fewer is always better. We've all been to invisionfree boards with 200 forums and 5 users.
That said, I never thought of Jul as having an overwhelming number of forums, but I tend to not come around much, so my view of the activity is a bit (Very) skewed. Just a note on the art forum though: There are ideas for merging it and not merging it, and honestly they're all just as bad. You should merge it with General (or something else) because the few threads that go in there will get more exposure; well that's not true. The people who would look at those threads know where to find them already. You shouldn't merge it because threads will get buried below other threads; okay, but that doesn't change anything, they're still there and nobody looks at them.
I'm not 100% on how Jul feels about reviving old threads but I have the opinion that if someone bumped their 8 month old art thread with new art because they just haven't been posting throughout the school year, it would be acceptable. Maybe? So either way, it both works and doesn't, and you should go with what you feel. Eight threads in a year isn't terribly bad for a small, niche group of friends.
And on Craziness... Well, personally I don't like forums like that are... uhm... Like that. I've found that, especially among smaller forums, it's better to have a more relaxed general, but I've never seen a forum get rid of the spam forum and not regret it. So you may want to consider that.
Most of you don't know me so my opinion probably means nothing but those are just my thoughts on the subject, from someone who's seen a lot of very large forums become very small, and a lot of very small forums become very dead.
I think you're on the right track, but don't confuse more posts per forum as more activity. Streamlining the board will only do so much. Especially with fall around the corner. The main thing you have to worry about is getting over poster apathy. "Why should i post on Jul when I can just post on facebook* and all the same people (And then some) see it anyway?" My recommendation: Pay someone to create content (In this case I suggest romhacks?). Not convenient? Not feasible? Though. I know it. But original content is what brings people to a site. It's too bad VGFacts kind of steals appropriates content form TCRF and makes videos with it, because you could do that and probably have all of their forum users. Hint.
The simple matter is, if you want more posts, you need more posters, not fewer forums. Go to where people are and bring them here. How? I don't know, if you figure it out, please tell me.
*Don't give me your "I don't go to facebook" shit, you know this is the problem, even if it's not specific to facebook, or to you.
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