I'm going to throw my hat in the ring and say that having a mobile platform might help with numbers as so many people are using mobile apps to role play. It'd be difficult but might attract a bunch of people who are seeking an easy to use mobile app that has am established user base and system. For those who are using this site for the first time the whole thing can look a bit daunting. Not only that but out of the bunch if new people who joined how many are still active users afterwards? We might be gaining a bunch of new users but are we also keeping them? It's hard to say as I don't know. 

I think everyone has valid points and maybe we're just all seeing this now. Just years of these small things building up like this. That's just me and my thoughts though.