(I have a hypothesis about why Max went down when it did but I'm not going to share it publicly. I'll just say that the timing was interesting.)

The idea that "social media" has taken over and that is why boards like this aren't getting traffic or dying is not quite right.

This IS social media. It's just that it's circa 2001.

Social media has evolved over time. We started with our email sent to a listserv to be disseminated to everyone subscribed. Then AOL chat rooms -- amazing back in 1995! Hello, IM (icq anyone?) MySpace. Facebook. Twitter. Mastodon.

This bulletin board software was once state of the art but, like all the software before (and after it) people will outgrow it. Sure, there are some people who are still running Windows XP (and I get it!) but most people have moved on.

There are plenty of younger people who are interested in kink and FemDom. The issue is that if they come across a site like this they probably think, "That looks ancient. Why would I use that when I can use Blue Sky?"

When boards like this are completely outgrown we can still have this thing we have here. Some of us do. We're just set up shop in a more modern interface.

This is no disrespect to the value of the board and those who run and participate. It's just the reality of how internet spaces and born and die as people's needs change and technology develops.