Wow! I'm one who grew up at the wrong time for learning all those old stories, and just did a bit of searching for the likes of Douglas Bader. I've clearly missed out! Anybody got any good books they would recommend on, eg, WW1 / WW2 aviation?
FWIW, I'm one of those who doesn't do a whole lot of socialising alongside my flying - simply because, in my case, my young family barely leaves enough time to get airborne, never mind anything else. But that will change in due course. Maybe there are a few folks like me who have started, but are only going to find their way onto the social scene in another 5-10 years?
As regards forums quietening down, I'd think that was bound to happen - and it's not limited to aviation. I suspect that the level of posting over the last 10-15 years was higher mostly because the whole forum scene was relatively new, at least for the wider public who weren't geeky enough for the likes of Usenet. Not such a significant indication of interest in aviation as the number of planes parked (or missing) from the apron - which at least for my club seems to be pretty high.