You make some valid points Punkish but if it's falling on deaf ears, don't be so quick to abandon this pursuit, as a former staff member I know you once cared about this site, putting in countless hours into Magazines, General & Track Moderator duties and being a regular forum contributor, it's also clear from this post that you still do. I'm always happy to hear any comments, concerns, suggestions, etc. and if I'm able to change something then I have no problem doing so.
I'm willing to take the blame on anything I've messed up (no-showing & bad management of tournaments, etc.) as I hope everyone else will but my general attitude these days is let's move onward & upward.
Maybe that's your perceived general "attitude" or "feeling", certainly not mine, but I can't recall specific examples of staff members blaming the members for the decline in activity.
If anything I've just seen long-time users step up, volunteer, to carry out Moderator duties and help keep the site alive. From the FVC, LBA/LBT monthly PPV cards and the seasonal Cash Tournaments, there's still activity going on here.
Personally I think LB has grown in the past 2 years, since X took back ownership January 2017, fixing a ton of issues and adding a few features as well. With the latest introduction of the seasonal Cash Tournaments, X has proved time and time again that he does genuinely care about LetsBeef even if he can't always be online. There's a new update in the works as you've seen for yourself @
Punkish and while I don't have an update on the timeline but I have tested beta site and while it's not fully functional, it's got the general layout and battle system set-up.
This isn't to say it's all rainbows & butterflies though, I won't deny that activity has steadily dropped since 2008, the same year we were promised a new version but it didn't happen until 2017, when NOBLE was able to create a new skin/format for the site but it didn't have the features that were expected. We've had numerous people leave over the years because they were fed up over site politics, lack of communication and constant feature drops but you're right where you say we shouldn't blame each other, or anyone, let's instead figure out a way to make this work, for everyone, because ultimately, we're the ones who benefit.