Dereck -
I have noticed the same thing on the other boards as well. Many people sign up and never even return to the board, nevermind become active.
I've actually tried to track down about a half dozen people on one board who haven't posted in over two years. (That group does not give you the same level of member statistics, but make it possible to email them "blind" via the group).
Only one responded. None of the emails bounced.
I also started a topic on another board asking the same question (about a year ago). On another, I asked the mods if there was anyway that they could contact these ghose accounts and try to find out what happened (they declined).
Judging from some of the more prominent people in the Morgellons world over the years, I think that it is a scattering of issues.
First, some have become too ill to participate. Some have given up. Some find they do better when they stay away from the boards (I can understand that). Some have improved to the point that they want to put this behind them as much as possible. Undoubtedly, there are many suicides.
I would love to know the answers myself. I am extrapolating from the few that I know about.
On the other hand, I personally know two people who have symptoms that are not full blown. They live with them and largely ignore them. It was what I did for years before my symptoms exploded into the sci-fi realm and I started researching.
Or there are people who have circumscribed symptoms. Read through this "Foot Blog" and you will see Morgellons:
Foreign Body Hair Abscess of the Foot: A Case Report
Then there are the people who have been fighting "scabies" "mites", etc, for years...
So I DO believe that this is way under-reported. And I actually know a lot of people who don't have computers (seems almost like not having a telephone!)
SS