First of all, I agree with Rei: it'd be better to not involve members who are gone and who didn't show great respect for some people from this site... And I'd rather not talk about this subject after all this time.
Then, you said you've been waiting, but frankly I haven't seen you much around the forums in general, and most of all, you haven't done much to "save" the "downfall", as you like calling it. Members who want to increase the activity of a community don't disappear and wait for others to post in the meantime
You could post yourself, you could start yourself threads or discussions to keep interest on some higher level, like many other members did, but no, you come here all of a sudden and talk about downfalls and General Chat dying... Sorry but this sounds quite hypocritical and not very constructive, stormshadow! There are many other ways to show your appreciation, instead of posting just to talk about the death of General Chat...
And no, I'm not trying to humiliate you for your interest, it's just that I don't think this is the best way to express it. But ok, whatever, I'm sure someone will agree with you. I just felt I had to give my personal opinion as a member, not as a moderator.