Welcome back, Tomereader! How delightful, as always, to see you. We have missed you!
I'm not Jane, but I'll venture the thought that we actually have two websites here, one which is visible to the public, focusing on reading, and one consisting of those learning and reading Latin, which is not visible. The one which is not visible is very robust, and frankly takes all our energy to run, and respond to, now off for the summer, normally with 150 present subscribers. A lot of those subscribers also read The Library. They are, in fact, great readers, but they don't often post there, and thus don't appear visible to the public. So the public site may look a little sparse, as it only focuses on reading, and a lot of people, for whatever reason, put aside reading during the Covid pandemic.
I went to S&F and looked at their one discussion focused on reading. I see the majority of people posting in their Library are actually on this site as well, and there are several duplicates in posting, using different logins. Of those I see there who are not posting here, maybe the books being discussed here don't interest them at the moment? Or they are happy where they are. Best way to change participation is if we all mention what we are currently reading and enjoying. Or not enjoying.
Is there a particular person you are curious about? Since we started here in 2008, we have had quite a few to pass on, unfortunately. Most of those leaving who have not passed on often don't leave a reason behind.
How nice of you to care about those missing.
I think the best way to get a conversation going is to contribute to it.
I'd like to see the public website grow, too. It's always interesting to hear what folks are reading.
Good to see you again!