I think many factors are at play in the decline in participation on the Sphere. One is certainly the declared policy of a number of journals of not accepting any poems that have appeared anywhere online, if they can be found by searching. I noticed a big drop-off in posting as a result of that, and it led to password-protected sections in Drills and Amusements. By the way, to my eye Drills and Amusements is still quite active. I think that has partly to do with the extra password protections, but also to do with the general air of mutual encouragement among those who post there. That used to be more true of the poetry boards than it is today. There have always been occasional blowups of accusations and insults on the boards, but they seem more common these days, and the result does seem to be that some people lose interest and go elsewhere.
I suppose that many people, like me, have jobs that keep them very busy most of the time. I post poems and crit when I have poems to post, but those become fewer when I am busy doing other things. I may look in occasionally, but I only comment when something catches my eye and I have some specific suggestion that I can make quickly. I am most likely to look at poems by poets whose aesthetic is closest to mine, because my suggestions to them are most likely to be helpful. They are also the ones whose suggestions for my own poems are most likely to be helpful to me. I'm not on Facebook and I don't have any colleagues who write much in form, so when I want feedback on a poem, I have to come here for it. So long as I get some comments I can use, I expect that I will continue to do so.
Susan
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