I think the forum community is a small chuck of GA.
Most normal people readily use the internet for all the normal stuff but don't spend time on forums
There is very likely a formula for making the GA scene more interesting but it is difficult to combine this with the current flying school business model.
A few years ago, I knew of one reasonably bright bloke who was aware of these issues and he said he would set up a school/club which had all the "right stuff", and he indeed did, but very soon it ended up just like all the others: a sausage factory with all the bent practices we read about.