I only go to the battle server once in a blue moon. Almost every time I've been there, it's been practically dead. I remember one time it was really bad. I logged on, greeted everyone, and nothing. I tried the typical conversation starters like "how's it going?" and stuff like that. No one responded. Then, a conversation struck up between a few people and they just ignored me as if I wasn't there. So, I logged off. I never really go there because it's not that active, and even when I'm there, it doesn't seem like people are willing to talk.
There are going to be moments of inactivity, and those are unavoidable for a community of our size. Still, it's active pretty often throughout most days, so maybe you just came on at some bad times. I recommend leaving the battle server open in a tab and checking back when it's more active. In fact, I suggest that everyone do this when they can because it boosts our user count, puts us higher on PS' server list, and we get better activity all around. The battle server will remain dead if people simply come on then leave, though I don't hold anything against those who do. Also, sorry about the unwelcoming atmosphere; usually we're pretty good with that.
If you want to get more people in the server, try hosting small tournaments throughout the day. People will log on because they realized just how fun tournaments are when they aren't spread across over a couple months. I'm not talking to Wolf here. I'm talking to everyone. If you have a challonge account, it's really easy to host a small tournament. You can't just let the server sit there and expect it to grow, you have to put some effort into it if it's going to become active.
I agree that we could use more server tournaments. I used to host
Battle Nights for a few months, but everyone lost interest over time and I became busy. I've been thinking about hosting more if I can think of some ways to make each BN more interesting. For now though, an official tournament is coming up alongside CommDay, so the battle server will be busy enough with those.