About the site, there are plans in the works for it to be improved. Mainly this would improve notifications, the size and sorting of items, users recognized, etc. These plans are slow though in fruition due to everyone being busy and other things which take priority due to the ease of their implementation. A site is a lot of work, while features on the forum are not so much.
Meh and there are some other ideas in the works for developers too which might change some paradigms a bit. Currently I am trying to figure out a good way to have a site staff that isn't bloated but with each group member working for the common effort while each having individual skills. The nature of the site staff might change a bit as well in terms of for what duration a user is on the site staff as well - i.e. hiring for specific events/contests, firing if now work at all for a set period of time.
Ripping Zelda graphics, specifically Minish Cap, is also helpful to many users here. Any good ripping in general is good too. But there is something I want to reiterate as I likely have done many times before. Advertising doesn't mean jack !@#$% if what we have here is subpar or in essence !@#$%. I mean really, our parents set a good example, when you have company over you clean the house up a bit and tidy up or else those you bring in will think your a slob or a joke - or worse they'll like the mess and make it worse. Kripsy Kreme donuts for the longest time didn't have to advertise anything because they were just good enough that people wanted to be there and invited their friends. Try getting your friends here and they'll think you're wasting their time. I mean really, the problem is not in the stars, but in ourselves. You can't look to the outside as the be all end all solution to problems, when in fact they could just complicate things worse if we don't improve ourselves.
About news items, they have to be !@#$% that people want to read or that have value being posted. Eventually as alluded to developers are going to be given the ability to post significant updates that they have to the site. That and the site staff should be generally using the news for contests, events, and stuff like that.