Mata made a good point about the problem being kinda self-reinforcing. Characters (indeed, players) can get discouraged from bothering with the Summit much by the for some reason high concentration of Imperial characters, at the moment, for instance. There's also the various flavours of character and RP that aren't Imperial that also encourage their own continuation that rub characters or players up the wrong way. The curse of a wholly public channel, I guess.
Then there's the issue of more private / specialised / both channels being, well, silent. I don't think it's anything serious beyond a natural lull, but I'll admit it's vaguely irritating. That said, I'm back working myself so my own time is kinda erratic. vOv