I don't think there is much going wrong with the mud as a whole. I still believe that SK is the best mud around.
What happens is the natural thing of people coming and people leaving. So far, the later wins.
If you seek to solve this problem, don't change the mud; first look to yourself and what you can do.
Bringing your friends in and voting everyday would be two steps that would primarily make you happy. You could also try donating so Dulrik can advertise
As far as the mud way itself is concerned, my 2 cents is that training areas should not be damaged once they prove to be good. For NO reason imms have destroyed the area of Tribal grounds (the one with the barbarians NPCs and shamans) destroying an area where many mentor-master and gm players were trying to control
which included lots of rp and pk. Same goes with Beozastar, although it is not do much damaging. SUCH moves DO DAMAGE the mud.