i think that communities naturally ebb and flow as far as topic and excitement levels go. once a ton of people are there, it becomes like any other community. sometimes busy, sometimes not; sometimes interesting, sometimes not.

i have seen so many online communities go through the ebb and flow and someone is always talking about what can be done to "fix" it or make it more interesting. the fact of the matter is, sometimes people get excited, sometimes they are boring. that's the way people and conversations are.
realize that you can't force excitement and interesting shit, and just let things develop as they may. it doesn't have to be supah interesting 24-7.

as far as mark's question, in my opinion, as little "regulation" as possible please. i have been the admin for several groups and i belong to many, and the one thing that irks me more than anything is when people try to control the direction that these communities go. when you get this many people, things happen on their own, and really making an effort to dictate the direction or the attitudes only results in a lot of arguing and resentment.

many may not agree with me on this, and that's ok. :) i don't even ban negative asswipes from the sites i admin for, just because they give me and others with intelligent viewpoints a chance to verbally wipe the floor with them. keeps things interesting. ;p (the obvious exception for me is raging racist, sexist, homophobic asswipes. i tend to be a little meaner to them.) communities consist of all types, and all attitudes. unless someone is absolutely verbally abusive, i personally don't care to see them banned.

the dynamics of conversation revolve around conflict. and blocking out all conflict is fairly boring.

as far as what i'd like to see...i wouldn't mind a politics/world events section, but that's cuz i am an activist dork. ;)

anyhow, hope this wasn't just rambling nonsense. i just got off work, so i am a bit brain fried. ;)