Quality and Activity

This wont be a very graceful post, but it addresses my concern nonetheless. When I come here, I no longer see discussion, I see lists. There are far too many "what's/who's your favorite" threads, and the majority of them are created by people who aren't at the "community member" level in the first place. Is there any quality control? The activity level is also poor, which results in a lot of interesting topics "expiring" and becoming dead threads before they can even reach their potential for discussion. I do like this place, I have been active here for 6 years, have referred 8 new members to the site, but is anything being done to preserve and enhance this community I love so much, or has apathy swept across the user base and the staff? I understand that this site relies on its members to provide content, but without new, quality members, there is so little we can do. Staff may want to consider the following:
-More advertisement elsewhere, and a more visually appealing template.
-Getting the gallery uploads and arcade games back in working order.
-Encouraging quality contribution, and acting more efficiently when policy is ignored.
-More staff/mod generated threads, to prompt and encourage dialog. (lead by example).

I'm looking forward to seeing this site flourish once more.

Right now there's only so much the staff can do at the moment.

The site owner Cowboy Bebop has been absent for a long while now, and he is the only one with the access to do things like that. If you want him to take care of something, contact him directly (Send him a PM)

I wish there was more that we can do, but we're doing the best we can with the tools at hand.

As for spam posts and stuff like that: USE THE BLOODY REPORT POST FUNCTION! DO NOT RESPOND TO THEM! DO NOT MOCK THEM! And I'm talking to you Mega, I just infracted you several times for this. If you really want to earn that tile you gave yourself of "AO Helper", follow the damn rules.

The staff are only human. All of us have jobs, all of us have lives. We cannot be online 24/7/365 to catch every rule breaker on the site.

We're only human.

Yes, I understand. As for my title, it was actually given to me by one of the AO founders Cybergig1, my post count was too low to create a custom title. It was bestowed upon me by staff, and now I feel ashamed and undeserving. I'll press forward as best as I can, and be more understanding and aware of the situation on the staff side. Thank you.

Don't feel too bad. We're glad you care about the community enough to try and do something about it.
As for replying to the spammers, do not bother. Most are automated programs anyway, not actual people.