The site went offline 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Also, I find myself agreeing with you here. I think a large part of the persistent problems with online communities is that any sense of community culture is obliterated by the constant influx of new people. It sucks to exclude people, but allowing people in bit by bit is much safer and more stable in the long-term.

FUCK NO!!!!

Look, I appreciate that in general a community that doesn't grow will fizzle out instead. However, the recent events regarding GayArea show just how careful we need to be. If we're to hand out invitations willy-nilly, especially on such an open forum as Reddit, then we would be asking for trouble.

I'm all for growth, but there needs to be some sort of gatekeeping going on. The current limited invite system pushes members to be choosy about who they use their invitations on, hopefully reserving them for friends and/or people they know will behave. I'd actually welcome a system where members face sanctions if they invite people who rapidly become disruptive and troublesome. Apply that idea in conjunction with essentially offering open signups from Reddit and the mod's workload would double and our membership would halve.

I just think the costs would outweigh the benefits. If we want more people here then let them come direct from other torrent sites where they can demonstrate good behaviour and a good ratio.