What I meant to say was that we could effectively have a well-run club simply by being active and posting - can't we just have a nice shiny discussion without needing strict rules? There aren't any spammers here, and everyone on PC (at least in the club) is decent and civil, so there isn't a need for owners. We can all get along.
I would still say that most people don't read the first post, evidenced by the people on Serebii. (I've read it multiple times actually, and I've read through the entire thread more than once.) Here, we don't screen members or kick out people who don't type out pledges in the first post. There's a basic level of respect here, making harshness unnecessary.
Also, the club has not been dead because the owner just left. The owner left in January 2005, and the club functioned perfectly fine for over 4 years thereafter because the active members could manage themselves, and everyone worked great. (The owner came back a couple of times, but never stayed. 2009 is just the last time he happened to come and check, but he was in no means owning the place then.)
And Runa isn't someone who came "just browsing," she's a long-term member who's dedicated to shiny hunting and dedicated to the club. Fufu checks here too, but he doesn't post because it isn't very active. We were just starting to change that this week, with you, me, and Runa all posting, and Chr. Draco usually visits every once and a while, and I'm sure he'd return if he saw our activity. The club is by no means dead.
I'm sorry, but you really are killing it. I really don't want to see all the effort that's gone into this by hundreds of people over the past 6 years go to waste.
I'm sorry if that sounded mean, but I'm just trying to keep the thread open. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it and restarting would kill it so much. Please, just listen to me this one time.