At Jerome M : you sound quite pessimist and too negative. Of course, the internet has a great potential theoretically allowing the interaction between professional photographers, photo-artist and amateurs (although the limits between those categories are quite fleeting). But at the same time, as an amateur we have to know and accept where we stand and we shouldn't expect too much. If our expectations are calibrated with what we are, then things can be fruitful. Also frequent and regular posters get more attention than sporadic forumers, just because the others know them better.
You are right that I was having a bad day.
But allow me to take your comment about amateurs and professional to the next level. The question is about lack of posts in this forum. I noticed that all forums are the same, a message which apparently motivated you to read this thread.
Now, what would motivate professional photographers to post on the Internet? I think this is part of the problem here.
When this and other forums started, the web was a lot less commercial than today. I believe that, for some professional or generally experienced photographers, the availability of discussion groups was felt like a way to meet contacts, talk shop, maybe kill some time between long renderings or prints, etc... Also: at the time, photography was still in transition to digital and professional photographers needed some knowledge that only hackers and nerds had. The hackers were on forums.
Today the situation is quite different. It starts with "professional photographer" being a different concept than it once was. I'll give you some examples of professional photographers I know:
K. G. has a studio with about 5 full time people. He mainly shoots catalogues. Last time I was there, he had been shooting handbags for 3 days, about 30 different models in all colours. That is his job and it pays the bill every month. He is very knowledgeable about lights (e.g. how to light bottles and glasses...) and has no need for camera technique. His clients are content with 10 mpix. K. does not use forums (finds the discussions a waste of time) and at the end of his work day wants nothing less than interacting with a computer, because K. spends already most of his time on the computer (retouching, etc...). 10 years ago, it was different. K is the classical "professional photographer" as one may imagine them.
O.C. also derives 100% of his income from photography. O. mainly sells workshops and gets a kickback when he manages to convince one of his loaded pupils to buy a MF camera or some cool ligths. O. is very active on some forums (not in English), that is where he gets most of his customers. O. pretends to be a cool and competent photographer by shooting scantily clad nubile women and becomes very aggressive when one criticise his work on forums or remarks that his "tear sheets" are all from vanity magazines. Protecting his image is part of his daily job.
M. S. and a few others derive their income from photography via instagram. M. has millions of followers and sells his feed to the highest buyer via product placement. M. spends a full day of work just making sure his feed has 10 new images each day. It does not pay very well, but M. lives in a low wage country.
M. J. is an "artist". Actually, he lives from grants, residencies and giving some subsidised evening courses. I don't think he has sold much through galleries in the past years, if ever. M. courses are designed to make sure the pupils realise that he is an artist and you are not. He also organise "exhibitions" in his some of his courses, for which he gets all the credit and the pupils who took the pictures none. M. is too old to use the Internet efficiently and he would only participate in a forum as a "guest artist" anyway. Mixing with non-artists would damage his image (a real problem, explained to me once very seriously by a gallerist).
G. H. is like M., just younger. I don't know what he lives from, maybe his wife pays, maybe his parents still finance him. G. is busy building his résumé. He wants to be recognised as an "artist". G. started with forums, but quickly realised that web-only "magazines" would look better on his résumé as "magazines" and that they take his pictures without complaining too much. He managed to take part in a few exhibitions, mostly virtual. His social feeds are important because having many "followers" looks good on his résumé (if you are interested I have a fascinating video about that).
I probably forgot a few other types, but it should give you an overview of the situation.