[...] I've noticed that this forum in particular is quite slow, even though I know we have a lot of talented creative people as regulars.
I disagree: I reckon we've only got a handful of talented creative regulars, which is why this forum's 'ground state' is slow.
That's not intended to belittle any contributors, by any stretch! By 'talented, creative' I've inferred those with sufficient skills, experience or raw talent to have a career in design/development/whatever, or be actively pursuing a career in one of those fields.
We certainly
have got some talented graphic designers, web designers, web developers, programmers and artists here. Between us all [yes, I
am including myself - I've got ten years' experience to make up for any talent deficit
] we've got a broad and relatively deep pool of knowledge.
But we've got plenty more here that I'd classify as novices, keen amateurs or, at best, semi-professionals [those who do occasional freelance work].
So the majority of threads, by nature of numbers, are going to be ones asking for advice - often at a basic level.
And here lies the problem, perfectly illustrated by Skippi: once a forum member considers that they've reached a certain level of competence from advice given here, they're going to want to mix with a more dedicated peer group; one of greater skill/knowledge. So they move on, and frequent here less often, sometimes forgetting this place altogether.
Alternatively, you'll occasionally see the more knowledgeable members looking for help on a more specific, advanced topic. There simply aren't enough members here to provide a rounded set of responses, so after drawing a blank or a few educated guesses here, they move on to more dedicated forums, where comprehensive answers are more likely to be obtained.
In a nutshell: this forum is just a waypoint for most; it'll never attract the breadth and depth of knowledge required to really bloom due to the nature of the OcUK demographic.
Hell, the only reason
I'm still around is that this place - for better or for worse - has been my internet 'home' for the last eight years or so.
