Well, I joined a while back to see what this was all about and to comment on a friend's rom. But, I completely forgot about my account until recently. And then I met some folks on IRC and it re-interested me in the forums. I was also invited by KG to participate in the tourney, but I got eliminated round 1...by KG himself haha.
But yeah, technically I joined '08, but I've only become active now.
You bring up a good point. Maybe later in the year, when people have settled down with the school craze, maybe we can work on programs to attract new battlers. I don't know if you already have something like this, but maybe a tutor program run by PC's most respected battlers? Just an idea.