It does seem like there's been more ebb than flow in the last couple of years. To me FB is a totally different space, but other social media may well be sucking away potential new members - it's a lot easier now to reach out to extended friend/acquaintance/business circles when someone has a question. Most of us probably came here initially with questions, and stayed for the camaraderie.

I wonder whether it would be helpful to TE as a business if they were to have more social media involvement. Lots of the businesses I follow on FB regularly post discussion topics to keep their customers/followers involved, as well as to data mine the responses and responders (little as many of us may like it, that's the reality of marketing in the 21st century). I wonder whether, if TE did that, whether it would have an effect on forum participation - I can see it potentially going either way.