Most of this group is pretty senior, and they don't adapt to change as well as the average population group with a more balanced demographic.  I'm in my late fifties and I'm actually one of the younger members here.  The majority are in their 60s and 70s.  Some in their 80s, with a several in their 50s, a few in their 40s.  Very very few younger.  I'm talking about regular message board users.

One thing that most regulars love about this forum is that it doesn't change much, and we are responsive to them when they have problems or questions about how things work.  And that we are small.  They don't miss messages addressed to them, which they would on larger boards which use inferior software where it's harder to keep track of threads you're involved in. 

I know you'd like to see this forum grow, and so would most of them--to that end they are all welcoming of new users--but it takes a certain type to get past the fact that the software is reeeeeally different from the same old bulletin board software people are all used to seeing and using on about 98.7% of the forums on the web. 

Once they give it a chance they almost always like it, unless they have a burning desire to be a tiny fish in a huge ocean, but I'm at a loss as to how to get them over the hump.  I even put a comment into my welcome message adding that they should give it some time to get used to the the software, and that they'd find it is really better than what they are probably used to.