There was a time on here when Ab Editor deleted CB completely, due to the arguing, nastiness and insults. Lots of people left the site then and haven't returned.
there's 5 permanent residents here; plus a 6th who's a "possible" - he's been visiting for sometime but I noticed last sunday he had a bad eye. so I caught him. vet says he'd had an accident in the past that had broke his jaw and mis-shaped one side of his head. all healed now but can't help thinking he got chucked out because his family couldn't afford the vet. not sure if he'll stay once he's let out....
I'm willing to bet AB as a whole is bigger and more widely used than it ever was.
Just because a core set of users don't appear to be using it as they did, it doesn't mean the site's dieing, I seem to recall one of the previous Ed's stating that it's crosswords that keep the site ticking over nicely and CB, news and other categories that we use are just fillers, for want of a better word.
I'd put money on it being still here long after we've gone.