Those could have been my words. I agree so much with you.
Personally, I just find that I just found myself with much less spare time, over the years, and that is the first reason why I tend to post less. The second being, by far less relevant, that there's so much less to read about the Empeg itself.
Still, surprisingly, I keep coming back, and I actually never felt I left this place. I've met only few of the board emmbers in person, and still I feel so much part of it.

Did people leave the board because of religious or political topics? Some may. It is unavoidable. "religion wars", be them about actual religion, or politics, or Microsoft vs Apple vs *nix, are such that invovled parties do not feel welcomed or respected by their counterparts (opponents?).
Still, I feel most times such heated discussions, here, were not nearly as bad as in most other forums I've been on. In several cases, they were instead enriching and respectful. Some of those discussions are actually one of the reason why I am still here.