ok, this will seem kind of off-topic at first, but I still think I need to voice my opinion...
----------------------------------------------
I think what's kind of happened is that originally you know we had the whole OOT2D thing and lots of zelda fan game and other development stuff. That lasted decently 2-3 years. Problem is that during that time we developed a good community ahd we decently know other people. But now we've kinda moved past the fan-game part but don't want ZFGC to die out or change or something nor do we want to leave because of this group of people that frequent this site.
Unfortunately that was obviously not the plan for ZFGC, but I think that's what we have now. A bunch of people that want to kinda "hang out", talk, etc. with each other but can't do it anywhere else because those specific people we're referring to in the first place just aren't there. Does that make sense? Yes there are people that want the development part of ZFGC strong again, which isn't a problem, but I think a lot come here just for each other and are afraid of losing "us" and our ways of just plain old friendly interaction. We're almost more like just a group of friends than a group joined for a purpose or a particular thing.
This is not necessarily a bad thing - in my opinion it's just that we're almost out of our element now. Even though ZFGC's focus is supposed to be about fan games and stuff, yet again, many of us seem to just want to not lose this "group of friends". I've never been in a gaming clan before, but I reckon that we're almost more something like that.
Now what's this gotta do with spam? Well, IMO that was one of the main spots of the "friend-like socializing" that I've described. Friends commonly are goofy with each other and just kinda "hang out", which IMO was what spam got used for. Yes there's community speak and Other Discussion, but friends aren't always just discussing things.
-----
So basicly, I think our problem is that ZFGC is now more of a group of friends (maybe even almost like being a clan) than a group interested in a particular area (though we have gaming interests because of ZFGC's roots in development, which supports my clan analogy). But ZFGC itself is still designed and geared for fan game development, and spam was a (if not THE) main spot that our "group of friends" hung out at.
----------------------------------------------
Now I feel like I'm either COMPLETELY off or right on the spot. Thoughts? Flames? Slaps for utter cluelessness?