I have been summoned and forced to reply lol kidding of course.

Here's my advice when GMing, you dont need like 8 people to join in all at once, at minimum you need to have at least 2-3 people to be interested. Looking at the Middle Earth RP you had a month up ago, that had 3 people interested in which is a good number to start off with, you don't need 8 people to start an RP at all. And once you the thread actually up that generally gets more interest in the RP as well to to join it.

Next is throw a wider net for your RP: I know that the others said that general isn't the best but I think it helps, but also post your RP in the casual interest checks it'll get your interest more out there. Posting in both helps me with getting interest for my RPs, and then just post your general thread in casual.

My next bit of advice is consistency and preparation: Once you have at least 3 people interested, then get the thread up, tag all of your members in all the interest checks you posted in. And have your OOC prewritten, rules, CS plot etc all beforehand that way you have it ready to go as soon as possible. And like I said above usually once the thread is up more people will usually express interest in your RP. Now as a GM you have to be very consistent with your posting, so once everyone has posted, then you go ahead and post yourself or however your posting rules. I usually try and be as consistent as possible for my RPs and post frequently, as a GM you need to be if you ever want to succeeed.

Last bit of advice Discord: I know you already do this, but once you get the interested people in you invite them right away, make the channels fun, and interaction with players is always key as well to and inform people when you post.