Once again, thanks for all your time and effort keeping this instance going. And for being transparent about its workings and admin decision-making.
I think a post like this would be good to have at least monthly, with ad-hoc posts more frequently as site changes dictate.
I think a lot of the dead communities were created by folks fleeing from reddit and creating one for one placeholders for subreddits. Unfortunately, many of them have seen no activity and who knows if the creators are even around to mod them. If suggest a bulk email to those creators giving them 15 days to show some activity or the comm will be deleted (and follow thru).
I'd volunteer to help with admin or moderation, but I don't know rust, I'm not a developer in any way, shape, or form, and I have very little time. For now I think my contribution will have to be monetary only. Good luck finding someone though!
Thanks for the update and the openness. Hope you are able to make it work with a minimum of fuss, and that all the users understand. Good luck!