My compliments to Fluffly & Pepcock,
and with respect to their posts, as someone concerned about the IF for 2 years, I think the problem is rather complex, involving a number of issues.
In fact, a couple of years ago , there was significant participation here by many spanish players for about 1/2 year, during which time I had no need to visit the SF.
edit: actually I didn't feel the need for that time. In fact, I learned when I began to visit the SF, it would have helped all along, there is much that is not discussed in the IF. You just can't have the same discussiion, the same way, twice.]
I think it was the englilsh side that didn't keep up its end. But the reasons for that are really broad from possible cultural differences, to the inescapable fact that the powerhouse players & "assistant game designers" are all spanish, some spanish only, the rest native sp. and limited english. Naturally they will always sp. more naturally, as well as accurately in that lang. That is just the way it is, just as the bias for Packman is english.
I think the total size of the player population is more a factor, because it probably is not enough to support a development platform & a productioon platform. The reason that is important is because of the Regulation translation delay between spanish & english that is a drain on total resources and puts the english only players at a disadvantage.
So there are many fundamental issues that cause the uneven success of the 2 forums. Having thought about the problem, I'm not sure the resources exist yet to make the changes. Which is why I asked if there was the interest for a group to do an indepth "report or study" rather than the off the top of our heads suggestions we usually make in these posts.
Perhaps it is Internet culture & perhaps some laziness, but I notice we are completely resistant to traditional problem solving by a task group who comes back with ideas & suggestions to either the leader or the group. I suggested this concerning surrender/ capture/prizes about a year ago and not one person was interested. So we still wrestle inch by inch with the same issues now and while some may be quite pleased with the incrimental improvements, others think that maybe we are walking 2 sides (maybe 16 sides) of the triangle to get to the goal. [just 2 days ago I was furious with the grappling/surrender system having to guess what was happening to my ship,

hich I am still not clear about, though it lost to the enemy.]
While "Internet based" fast expression & decision making helps many issues, there are some things it does not help ... looks like the boiler has run out of steam