I think the lack of "warmth" you feel is due to the lack of flames. :)

Things have been a little more quiet but in my opinion things are working great: We have comfortable, leisurely off-topic threads in the chat board and the main 8052 forum has been extremely productive and on-topic. I hope this continues.

I also would not be surprised if this chat forum is where you will find "warmth" while the main forum is going to be a lot more business-like and serious. That would seem to be the logical result of having a separate forum for off-topic threads.

Forum activity tends to be cyclical, too, and I think mid-summer has historically been the slowest time for the forum. Probably because more people are out enjoying the outdoors, taking vacations, and students are taking their summer breaks.

And, yes, it's possible that some people got burned out as a result of the recent events. Hopefully those events are behind us and things will get back to normal.

Regards,
Craig Steiner