I guess this place can be intimidating to the average message board viewer. That would explain the ratio of lurkers to actual posters. But if things were to become more vanilla then I think you'd lose posters and lurkers. I, for one, have never understood people getting overly butt hurt over something negative being directed at them on a message board. Pissed maybe, but no real hurt feelings. I think it actually sharpens your thinking by posting here because you need to really think about what you're going to say and have the cajones to back it up.
Perhaps the most difficult thing is to get new interesting blood to start posting. Most of the prolific posters came over from the GSMB and people are generally familiar with their posting styles. Sometimes new posters come in and get in trouble when they have a difficult time understanding the board dynamics and either get quickly offended and leave or don't have the wherewithal to stand up to the initial barrage and end up retreating back to lurking. My advice to anyone who has a take but is hesitant to post is to just say, "f**k it, it's only a message board and those knuckleheads need to be set straight and I ain't taken prisoners." You'll fit right in.