BHW in 2020-22 was the peak period any SEO foum can ever see. In the busy hours, there were consistently 5-6 posts per minute. Almost 20-30 active members are familiar to everyone. It has a community vibe with a feeling of real human interaction. The MMO threads, SEO tips, keyword research techniques, backlink opportunities, etc. were shared almost daily. A series of events like increasing Jr VIP price, banning some of the most active members, hundreds of bot accounts joining daily, making daily thread bumping, etc. happened. One thing lead to other and the interaction between members reduced which eventually killed the vibe.
I think the interaction between members similar to real world is the foundation of any forum. If we bury the home page with sales threads, irrelevant content, or limited access threads (like VIP or paid), then the interaction will be reduced. The admins should always consider the amount of threads where a newbie can learn something new or interact. If only 20-30% threads are engaging and rest are either casual or promotional content, then the forum engagement will significantly drop over time. We should give members more opportunities to talk instead of trying to sell them something.