A lot of forums have slowed down. I'm going to jump in to this discussion because a lot of good points have been made. Some observations.
Yes the white screens are annoying. I see a thread I want to respond to and pfft, the dreaded WSOD. I still think it's a problem with the database. Or it could be with so many different sites on the same server, something happens at one and the rest suffer. David take your crown jewel and put it on a server by itself or at the least a VPS. That way something goes on at one of your other sites this one doesn't suffer for it. Anime Appeal is on a VPS. Couldn't be running any better.
Next is member behavior. Yep we all do it. At some point in time we get off on a tear and it looks bad. I've done it so I have room to speak up. It just looks like we're petty about things. We need to stop and think before putting fingers to keyboard. Just because some one else is stuck in stupid doesn't mean we have to stoop down and join them. Some times, not always, the fastest way to show how mature you are is to blow off what was said and keep on topic. Some one looking to start some thing will tire of being ignored and either give up or get shown the door.
And that brings up another thing. Inactive mods. Buzz just weeded out a couple that haven't been around in a while. It's just a change of status not removing the account. But being a mod isn't all about the title anyway. It's about keeping the peace and keeping things straight. It's about going to other forums and getting the word out. It's telling your friends and family, " If you have a problem with your computer check out..." . I don't see much of this going on at a lot of forums and they suffer for it.
And yeah this place really could use a face lift. But it's not my house so I can't do it. I can rant and rave, offer suggestions but in the end it comes down to one person, David.
I would suggest to the member to get better organized. Make a list of what you think needs to be done. Be precise and to the point. Let the thread run for a couple of weeks then some one go through the thread and compile a list of common suggestions. That's what you show David.