I have a mixed opinion on this as I think ZFGC is fine the way it is but I also think it could either be improved or it can just let itself die if nobody is going to take the initiative to try to improve it. When I came here in 2006, this place was alive and there were many interesting fan games to look at. Over four years later, that has changed as pretty much everyone who has stayed since then has changed and has pretty much lost interest in Zelda or doesn't even care about the franchise anymore but they stay because of the people they've met. It's pretty much the community that's keeping the site alive but some people and some new people are trying to keep the site alive as it means something to them.
Being a website owner myself, you're going to have to give in to some things and try something new. I don't think merging with another site is a good idea as you'll basically lose your identity and then you'll regret your decision or miss your old site. If this site were young and small, I could see a merge working out as that is pretty much how my site started out, two small sites that merged and became one. Even though you might not have much of a desire to improve things, you have to try something. You'd have to start small though obviously and work your way up. Sure, you'll need one big aspect to get new members but you can't rush into it. Back to my site for a moment. This past August, my site held a 96-Hour marathon for charity. Before the marathon, my site was seeing barely any activity and we were a year and a half old. After that marathon, we got a lot more visitors and opening a message board really helped out as well. Even though my site and this site are completely different, you need to find something that can spark interest in working or developing here.
If anything, try playing some Zelda again as that is probably one of the factors that brought you here in the first place as it was one of mine. I think at this point, you'd have to look back on the mistakes you've made and look back and see how you can improve them. I think the Community Project was a good and bad idea because it was too big to handle with the size of them team yet it had some interest aspects that even today I still think are cool. The thing with fan games I've realized over the years is that people want to make a full game out of it. If anything they should try to start small just to see if they want to keep continuing with fan gaming. I mean, you could start off with a puzzle game and work your way to something like Bomberman or Pac-Man, then work your way to something like Mario and then Zelda. Basically start off with something simple that's unique and has people interested. Even though you'd want to make your own full Zelda game or Indie game, you need to think about it clearly before you go ahead with it. I know I haven't been here as long as some of you but I think we can all agree that we've seen many fan projects die due to losing interest and real life mumbo jumbo.
Back to the whole issue with revamping the site (even if I may repeat myself), I think ZFGC just needs to try to rework itself. Even in the normal Zelda community, I've seen quite a few sites that were on the verge of death but they came back alive, with one of them being one of the most popular Zelda sites on the interwebs (talking about Zelda Dungeon here). Even with a different aspect, this site can still make a comeback as well but it's just a matter of doing it right and having the right people to do it. Some people don't like change but you have to live with it. Things change all the time and it's just apart of life. All I can say is, try giving an effort to do something. If you have an idea, try it out.
Some things u guys aren't seeing is this website IS THE BEST for putting up fan games. no other zelda forum or site has ever had as much successful (or nearly successful) games than ZFGC.
No other Zelda forum wants to focus on fan games at all as they don't really care about them or don't even know a thing about Zelda fan games in general. I have no desire to add a board for fan games on my own forums as I think that role has been filled by ZFGC, even in its current state. However, there are a few people on my forums interested in fan gaming except I don't really want to lead them here as they are in their early teens and will most likely lose interest in fan gaming because of how critical everybody is here.