Hey Curl-6,
It would have been nice to meet you- going by your post account you appear to have been a strong contributor. As a returning poster-coming back from a long leave of absence- here are some thoughts on the Vgchartz's forum.

1) Fast paced: Most threads seem to live and die  after only two days. I think that the most popular one's have around 150 to 200 posts. This excludes those 'staple' threads like the one's the focus on a specific game like the 'Smash' thread that had regular posters since it can be constantly renewed.

2) Present driven: Most threads seem to be related to what's most relevant in the moment. Let's take the example of Nintendo E3. Fans were displeased by Nintendo's showing therefore, many posters created threads criticizing Nintendo like "Nintendo fans are X" or "Starfox's trailer was dissapointing."

3) Relax moderators:  So far I have seen moderators tolerating members giving one liners like "yeah that sounds cool" or " Day 1 buy for me." At another forum I am a member of, not video game related, moderators are very harsh and they won't allow you to make one-liners or post empty content. The moderators want thoughtful replies with evidence. Again, I think Vgchartz has a more relax atmosphere, therefore, this contributes to the forum being fun. 

4) Young blood: Because of the relax atmosphere, this drives in young people. I remember back in my day: Soriku, Leo-J, SC, Nintendo fan girl, Pichu-Pichu, among other who were young people, high school or college students at best who would contribute regulary. I remember a certain style of thread like "Rate the song above you."  or " Are you a virgin?" What happened to SSJ,by the way, I remeber him being a big shot back in the day until the moderators discovered his ties with NeoGaf and I think he was banned....

5) Members leaving and new one's appearing: Most people I used to remember are gone. I think that given the fast-paced nature of the forum this happens frequently. I remember, I left in 10' and new members cropped up(regulars). Then I came back and all those regulars were gone and new people had filled in for them.

Well those are some of my thoughts on Vgchartz- right now I am trying to regain my footing as a regular contributor. I hope you come back. I went through a similar experience as yours- when I left. The forums no longer had an excitement for me, before what kept me hooked was achieving God-status(10k posts) but after the ranking system was changed it seemed impossible to reach the highest levels. Vgchartz is time-consuming if you want to keep up with all the news and become a regular.

That analysis is kind of missing the vital observation of how the charts are in a erratic comatose state.