Like others in this thread, I think the amount of time it has taken me to see/respond to this thread is indicative of... something. But the fact that I keep coming back here after over 10 years, especially as I haven't been CADing for the vast majority of that time, is also indicative of... something else.
I am glad that the decision which was made appears to have been "cut down the number of subfora" rather than shutdown. This is the only forum I come back to regularly, and it's certainly the only site I can think of I've regularly come to for over 10 years.
There are a couple of things you could do to make the site look a little less "dead" - as you've already done, cutting down the number of sections, and as I haven't yet seen suggested, remove the date stamps from the index page.
If you ever want any help to lighten the load of admining here, please feel free to give me a shout. I'm finally back in front of magic black screens, and adding one more to the list is no problem.