So first off, I absolutely agree with everything that Jeremy said. Pixelation, to me, has always been a place where I have come to see the valuable feedback provided by others knowledgeable about art-- not just pixel art, mind you-- and somewhere that I've been inspired. Seeing the community changed into some sort of Twitter-esque format would not be in the spirit of what the forum seems to have always been about, at least in my opinion.
I moderated and admin-ed a lot of decently high profile websites in the "renaissance" of forums, when boards thrived, and yes, that era has pretty much come to a staggering halt. I mean, there are certainly tons of forums out there that still thrive, and see immense amounts of visitors/posters every day, like ResetEra, TIGS, various music forums, etc. What keeps those members coming back? I'm not quite sure. Is it the content? Continuous releases of new things to discuss? For me, forums offer a way to discuss things that no other media outlet really allow for-- Twitter, as mentioned by Jeremy, is a website where posts get lost after even a day. Now, don't get me wrong-- I love the Twitter pixel art community. I have received amazing feedback and gained a wonderful, positive following there. It is truly a thriving place. But what I do not usually receive on Twitter is constructive, well-thought-out criticism or insight that helps me view my pieces from a different angle, or to catch a mistake that my eye my glaze over.
In its heyday, and when I was just starting out as a pixel artist, Pixelation was the place that I would always peruse the threads of experienced artists that would be working their piece out-- I remember watching closely the threads of people like big brother, Helm, Indigo, etc. and seeing the wonderful feedback they would get from everyone-- experienced artists and newer artists alike. Some of the threads that have been archived for their wonderful knowledge are threads many of us experienced in real-time, and probably recall being an exciting, inspiring piece of pixel art history. As I improved, I began posting here as well, but as you can see by my post-count and activity, it has certainly fallen off.
Continuing on that thought, I think that is somewhere that Pixelation has declined-- more experienced pixel artists posting their work-in-progress pieces. When I browse through the Pixel Art board now, it is mostly newer pixel artists, and while that is an amazing thing, having so many new people who are seeking out pixel art as a medium coming to receive insight and criticism on how to improve their work, I feel as though those of us who have been working with the medium for quite some time now have fallen off in terms of posting work, seeking insight, etc. I am quite guilty of this-- I have several pieces that I'm working on currently, and I've only really posted them around Twitter, Discord, etc... I'm sure many of you are the same in that regard! I had my own set of pixel art "heroes" here growing up, and I feel like the same might not be able to be said for newer artists who browse today.
I also would not want to see the activities that have brought such joy and artistic achievement changed to an entirely new format/ Secret Santa is one of the highlights of my year, usually. I love waking up and seeing everyone's gifts, and seeing the appreciation from whoever has received mine. If
Another user brought up the issue of registration, given the newer methodologies of registering for websites through other social media outlets. Newer forum softwares DO allow for those sort of things. Flarum, NodeBB, Xenforo, Discourse, etc. all have upgraded and up-to-date features. These setups would allow for notifications (check when one of your favorite artists posted a thread), gallery implementation (a banner or something that would scroll through recent WIPs, perhaps?), and other features that I think would allow for more community feedback and discussion that would thrive. I agree that an upgrade to the current system is absolutely necessary, no matter what direction the community decides to go with.
If any help is needed by the board/staff, I'd be more than willing to help out. I've always really loved this community.