I don't think you could make an argument that because the traffic in the discussion forum is down, that use of the Forum/DT is down. For that, you would have to look at the number of hits, searches, etc. rather than the number of threads active at any given time on the discussion forum. There are likely some users who come here only for the DT, and don't bother with the forum at all. There are also, undoubtedly, many people who read the forum and never contribute.

Is there somewhere that the number of website hits are recorded for the forum, and then separately for the DT?

IMO, the DT is the main value of the website to the music community. As a library professional who often does on-line lyric searches as a hobby, I would argue one would have to analyze the current/past traffic patterns of the DT to see if the website's value is static or fluctuating.

Speaking only for myself, the DT's value has declined considerably since the time it first was put on-line. There is now some excellent competition where there once was none. Mmany excellent lyric sites have come on-line in the years since DT was first put on the site and made available on CD.

The reasons as I see it for DT's declining value doesn't really have much to do with BS and # of threads, or use of the forum at all, really. Rather, the declining value musicially for this (the Mudcat) website is due to several factors. 1) the search engine here is pretty hit and miss. 2) the DT has wildly variable accuracy rates, and there isn't regular maintenance/updates done to correct the problems. 3) it appears that the lyric additions/corrections posted to the forum aren't making it into the database with any regularity, and so many contributors are becoming frustrated and no longer bothering to contribute. And finally, the competition to DT/Mudcat seems, in several instances, to be a better product overall than DT (ie Contemplator, the Max Hunter collection, the Ballad Tree, etc), even though some individual users will prefer one site over another for a variety of reasons (but I would guess, mostly over the search engine issue).

I think for those of us with serious music/lyric interests, the DT has lost value over time. Whether that actually has translated to less traffic and use of the Mudcat/DT, I have no way of knowing. Max can figure it out one way or another if he chooses to take the time to sort it out, though. But being young and single, he may have some competing priorities with the website these days!