I think the forums success and the sites success are one and the same. VGChartz has removed alot of features from both the site and the forums. Article quality has gotten lower and the features that made me sign up are gone. The only reason I'm still here is because I like alot of the other users and enjoy conversing with them.

What would draw in more users? If VGChartz brought back alot of the old features and worried about site quality over site profits. Also new members do get treated like crap sometimes, usually for good reason but honestly the site in general is not that friendly to new users. If VGChartz started breaking some news earlier then competitors and brought in all those charts and stats they have taken away I think numbers could rebound.

But right now the members make this forum. The features are gone making it just like every other gaming forum. Also NeoGaf has alot of developers on their right? I remember hearing tons of quotes from developers on NeoGaf. If VGChartz could get industry people here on the forum chatting with gamers it would draw a huge crowd.

Lastly I think we aren't contriversial enough. The users here don't want to debate in the latest doomed thread. They only want threads that agree with their idealogy. Look at all the flack Conservatives take on the off topic boards or how about Nintendo fans or Sony fans who create a negative thread about either company. Mods come in users get up in arms and discussion is stopped.

Not to say modding isn't good but its good to have some contriversy. Also get some higher profile members in here people who work in the industry. Bring back all the features and whoola we will experiance growth!

This would be a great improvement IMO, it would give the benifits of the current Hot topics filtering and a simplified forum structure. 

Neogaf has a lot more members than here and the forum is a lot more controller and organised they also generally get news a lot faster than we would here, it's also the source where we get things like the NPD reports from

A week before release nearly every game gets an official thread and everything but major news is contained there, this means there's always an easy place to ask questions about a game.

Also there's some really strict guidelines on there and "garbage" threads usually don't last and since you have to wait 6 months for your account to be approved people generaly value them more

But vgchartz does have some features that are better than there, like forum buddy, which is awesome

We should release next gen console it would make forums alive and kicking ;)

Discussion is boring because there's nothing new to discuss apart from rehashing same old topics again and again.

I'd say, crappy editorial articles, as sometimes you can jump from an article to a thread, but not with the material that is being released nowadays. The lack of a mobile version keeps away a lot of new users. And that 90% of threads are a battleground for fanboys, predictible and boring fanboys.

Vgchartz is not more popular and new.

I am still considered a newbie here, but I have some suggestions. I remember visiting this site since summer of 09. I would come here many times just to see where the sales figures were at for each week. I loved coming to this site a few times a week. It wasn't until earlier this year that I decided to join, and Im glad I did.
Obviously there seems to be some issues with unhappy users, and apparently there were older users that are long gone that added a lot to the site. I will say I do miss some aspects of the old site design. It seemed like I could find what I needed a little easier, but honestly the new look isn't bad. I will say there could be some changes to make the main page look a bit cleaner and simpler. A lot seems to have been added. I have been to NeoGAF. I personally don't like the way they have their Discussion topics seperated. There is really no organization at all. If you want to find something on movies you have to look through all the off topic threads. Same as with any other off topic discussion you are looking for. I think there needs to be a balance, but not have it where there is only two discussion boards: Gaming, Off-Topic. It gets too cluttered in my opinion. But you have to be careful how many Discussion boards you have. My suggestion, take what you will, would be something like this:
GAMING FORUM:
General Discussion
Console Gaming Discussion
PC Gaming Discussion
Mobile Gaming Discussion

SALES FORUM:
Sales Discussion
New Sales Charts

WEBSITE FORUM:
Announcements
Website Feedback
Introduce Yourself

OFF-TOPIC FORUM:
General Discussion
Movies Discussion
Music Discussion
Sports Discussion
Politics Discussion
NSFW Discussion

So I have only removed a handful from what they have currently. I think there needs to be some divisions or else you have a cluttered Forum board mess.

I also think there should be a bit more involvement from all Site Admins. I understand many of you are likely very busy. And I could be wrong with this point, but I think some of you guys could introduce some really neat topics. Either topics that become a weekly or monthly routine. Creating interesting topics that everyone can know to expect every week or month. It will help create more identity in the forum.

It would also be nice to see some more interesting sales discussions, and interesting news articles about latest events. It would also be nice to see some more personal questions threads. Things that deal with day to day stuff that everyone goes through or thinks about.

These are just some things I thought of.

I don't have time to read through this whole thread, nor do I disagree with the IP.   Since the last revision the forum has been a confusing and convaluted mess that I rarely use anymore.   

However, there are many other factors for myself:

1) The loss of all the chart functionality

2) There just isn't much to talk about.  Wii is dying.  3DS is stagnanted.  PS3/360 have nothing interesting going on except for #3 of the same old games.  The industry is dull at the moment. 

3) This is a site that was all about which system is selling the best and which games.   At this point, there's few surprises or arguments about any of that.  Again, the lack of all the chart functionality hurts.

4) Lame articles.  Sorry guys, but far too many are lame.  This isn't the only site guilty of that though.

5) VGChartz is trying to spread itself too thin and become another generic games site and has lost much of what made it different and interesting in the first place.

6) For me personally - loss of the Nintendo crowd.  There's some still here but the vibrant Nintendo community has grown mute as there's little to discuss aside from Nintendo's problems.

I do miss a lot of the cooler Nintendo fans who have bailed out. I mean, they left you guys with me. Daaamn.

It's because of bigger users leaving ***looks at Smeags ***