Does anyone really think this or 4chan can ever achieve anywhere near the size and diversity of 2ch? Or even enough to compare with a large forum? Reading this interview, http://www.ojr.org/japan/internet/1061505583.php it appears that 2ch was initially built for news discussion and reporting, rather than general chatter.

Could we even deal with the server load should the userbase increase that much? Bandwidth is a lot more expensive here than in Japan.

It also seems like there weren't a lot of online communities at the time 2ch started. Over here there are many large general interest forums already, not to mention hundreds of small special-interest boards. At this point we're a mere curiosity, a drop in the bucket.