But trash talk is socializing!
To be honest, we're usually kinda lax on board activity because of the Skype group that was made during the Brawl days. I started the Ditto tournament to spark more board activity here, and to get the newer Yoshis more involved with the old ones, since otherwise they tend not to have much presence here. It's kind of working! It's fair to think of the Ditto Thread as a secondary social for the time being. I've also been trying to get more social activity moved from Skype onto here, because Skype is hidden and some people may think we're all mean and a dead board, etc.
However, a board is only ever as active as its members make it. If threads are dead, you should go around and try to spark discussion and activity. I've been trying to be better about replying to almost everything that's been posted these days, but nobody ever replies back. =(
MU discussion is slow because nobody really has experience yet. So that'll be another tough road. If you want the social active, give us topics to discuss! I'm a terrible conversation starter, but if something interesting comes up I'd love to partake in the socialization.