there is the notion that anyone who enjoyed DS would be getting ShadowGram, participate on the lists and boards and that's simply not true. Look at the membership on this board and note how many people actually participate. The same is true with yahoo DS lists. You can have hundreds of members but just the same group of twenty or so people who reguarly participate.
Just a slight clarification that participation on any forum isn't necessarily an indication of how wide an audience that forum is reaching. I can't speak for other online DS venues but at least three times as many registered members visit this forum every day than actually post (some may just be shy - others may have nothing to contribute to the current discussions
). And when one factors in guests, the discrepancy between lurkers vs. posters becomes even greater because our host's stats show that in 2006 the forum has attracted an average of slightly over 1900 unique visitors monthly (August and September each attracted well over 2000). (And on average the vast majority of those visitors have spent between 15 minutes to an hour plus per visit (this month alone at least 60% of the forum's visitors have spent more than an hour per visit)).
There is an interest but not that kind of interest where it comes to be active in fandom as a regular convention-goer.
But the main point here is an extremely valid one because it's most certainly true that by no means will everyone who visits/reads a forum also post there - nor, similarly, will they attend a DS Fest. Some people simply like to keep abreast of the latest news about their favorite shows, but they have no inclination to interact with other fans. And as much as we might welcome their particpation on fan boards or their attendance at Fests, it's certainly well within their purview to simply keep to themselves.