I'd hate to see this site closed down, it'd be like a parent seeing their kid killed. OK, maybe that was a little over the top, but it's the same idea.
This site is seeing the same sort of thing that brought IZE down: when a site is well known enough, it becomes the go-to place for lots of folks, including the pirates. Since registration here is free, and you can download stuff for free, those who think they are entitled to
everything for free know it as a place to get products others have created so they can use them to draw members to their own site.
Piracy is never going to stop. There's a certain segment of the population out there that has this "I
can download it, thus I should be allowed to download it scot-free" attitude, and you're never going to convince them otherwise. I worked tirelessly for many months trying to combat this, but it's no use. Any effort spent trying to stop pirates is effort you take away from providing a good service to those who truly appreciate your work. In this day and age, there's just little to no consequence for piracy, so some people are going to take the easy route instead of the right one.
That being said, what then do we as people who produce products in the market do? Is the concept of a third-party resource site for IP.Board even viable anymore, what with there being most of this stuff already over at the IPS Marketplace, available only to those who have active support licenses, and thus while not guaranteed to be trustworthy customers, at least a lot more likely?
The way I've run my site is this: I don't go out of my way to seek out and ban pirates, but I will ban and report them when I find them. I spend my time working on my stuff, and trying to make my site something you can't get at a warez site: a place where you can get advice from someone who really knows what they're talking about instead of someone who just put someone else's work up on RapidShare. I'm not saying this is the right way, or what IM should be doing, but I feel this is the best use of my time.
I think that any decision about this site's future has to take this piracy issue into consideration. That, to me, is the biggest thorn in the side of all of us resource authors. Accepting that there are an awful lot of software pirates out there, how does a site like deal respond to it? Is it worth it to go gung-ho and hunt out everyone? Is it irresponsible to do nothing? Surely the answer has to be somewhere in the middle there, but how does one make a good site for those that deserve it, and discourage those that will abuse it?
Yes, yes, I'm rambling, I know. My point is this: No matter what is done, there will be people pirating stuff from here. Doing too much to stop this just hurts those who would use this site legitimately. I don't think it's worth it to make everyone jump through hoops just to catch the bad guys. To make this site successful, just do what you can to make it a good place for those you want to be here.
My recommendations would be to upgrade the site (obviously), possibly get a new skin (doesn't have to be unique, just something clean and professional), and work on content. The thing about a site like this, is that people are coming here looking for a specific thing in most cases. Once they have that thing, whether it be a mod, a skin, an answer to a question, etc., most will leave. A few will stick around and make this their go-to place. Cater to those people.
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. thats what i did with mine when it was on a downslope and now my site has more activity then ever! also never close this site down. EVER 
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