Like I said above, I'm a bit biased on this, but what the OF Admin team did led to quite a bit of exposure outside this site, some of which drew some nascent bloggers here before some went on to get freelance work or better with some of the publishers. There was virtually NO "cross pollination" taking place before October 2001 and there was no incentive to, either. But with the OF board (and later, the Reviews and Interviews section) being there and people committed to it, some of the old regulars have found themselves candidates for major genre awards, including the Hugos.

Perhaps, but that wasn't my argument. I don't think I ever used Ignore because I was bemused by some of the debates. But that still doesn't do with my point about what is this site going to be about.

Sanderson has his own fansite, The Seventeenth Shard, if I recall. I'll withhold my opinions on his literary merits for now But again, the question returns to what should be the focus of the site? The old Perl board wotmania (1999-early 2001) had WoT, "Other Fantasy," and "Off Topic" as its categories, with the focus intended to be on books and away from "community." Is that the focus you want with a single board? Or if you want a "Community"-oriented single board, are you going to accept that this might limit new membership, even if people were to take the initiative and go on social media and persuade others to visit? That's the issue at hand; I'm somewhat indifferent, other than expressing an opinion on what might revitalize the membership here.

Go for it. Hopefully it will go well.