Why is the R.A.T.S forum incredably slow?

I usually am a lurker around that board right now. I spent quite a bit of time writing an essay stating that the we should add a public opinion branch to the government, and in 6 hours it got 0 responses (It's R.A.T.S since it involves me speaking about agencies in the government). I still feel like a New user here, how is it that just because they recreated the forums original policy, that less and less topics are being created each day? Was it always like this?

[edit on 24-11-2004 by NWObringer]

Same here, i've been here a few months now and i still feel like a newbie here.

You have to remember R.A.T.S is a slow board, due to the topics in there and the limited amount of people who have the patience and knowledge to respond.

R.A.T.S has a tinfoil hat rating