This is something where I'd like to see improvement as well. I did bring it up with Anand a couple of years ago, but given his hectic schedule he didn't exactly see it as a top priority, so things never got anywhere.
I've been trying to be active on the forums (mainly on the storage sub-forum, though) to the extent that my time allows, but the forums would definitely benefit from deeper editor integration. Unfortunately, we tend to be quite short on time and it wouldn't be fair to force anyone to participate in forum discussions (especially as we get paid per article, so anything that doesn't contribute to an actual article is time away from our free time). However, I'm sure there is a lot that can be done to improve things from where they stand today.
Thanks for taking the time out to respond here. I mostly hang out in CPUs and Overclocking, and while we have had some great posters there in the past and present (Idontcare, pm, dmens, Rubycon, etc), we have had little to no interaction with anyone in an editorial role in Anandtech in that forum. Perhaps that was a result of Anand handling a great deal of the CPU coverage himself until he passed things off to Ian who often responds to pms but seldom wades into threads on his own (probably to dodge all the AMD fans who hate 3dpm). Or maybe it has to do with the fact that CPUs has maybe the second highest drama quotient after the Video Cards forum.
While it has its slow days, the Cases & Cooling forum is one of the most pleasant places to post here. I would definitely think editorial staffers could get into that, provided AT actually had more resources dedicated to relevant topics.
More editorial involvement in community is always something I like to ask for. It's nice to get reporters and editorial guys diving in on the commentary for their articles and hashing it out with users in the forum. That's something we can always aspire to.
That's a good thing. Please note that I do acknowledge that this process has to go both ways. Any forum that routinely fills up with repetitive, off-topic factional bickering is sure to drive away someone who is already under a great deal of pressure to do work elsewhere. If we want Ian in CPUs and Overclocking at all, for any reason, then I think it is incumbent upon us as regular posters not to let another thread break down into yet another theoretical i3 vs FX argument (or what have you).
I am thinking that one of the smartest things Purch could do would be to create a conduit between regular AT and the forums. Maybe have mods or a mod<->editor liaison recommend certain threads for content curation so that it would be acceptable to link to those threads from the main page. Some of the ducted PC, mineral oil PC, and case customization posts from Cases & Cooling would definitely stand toe-to-toe in terms of content quality with regular AT feature articles, and Idontcare's epic delid thread also deserves that sort of merit.
There should also be "official" threads in the forums for every main article AT publishes to drive more traffic from the forums to the main site. I am as guilty as any of the regular forum users when it comes to ignoring AT's editorial content.
Producing a crossflow of traffic between the forums and the main site is only going to be a good thing for everyone. It would probably reduce the need to louse up either part of AT with more/more intrusive ads if you get more exposure and more chance for hits.
If you would like some insight on how to improve this place and return it to its former glory, please feel free to send me a PM and I can help. This place was great at one point. Unfortunately it has declined into its current state to the point that Anand chose to sell the site.
I doubt Anand's decision to sell AT was motivated by forum troubles. He made some money and got enough time to work in a sweetheart job at Apple. Did he even pay attention to the forums? I'm guessing not.