This forum isn't dead. To add to what already has been stated, there are many active communities online which are smaller than this but aren't dying. Why think this place is dead? Less activity does not equate to dead.
Why would this be locked? Oh right, people spamming it should be locked.
Anyways, they aren't dead, but extremely stagnant. They are maintaining good activity, but there is nothing new. Same spammers, same trolls, same topics, same people, over and over. It's annoying.
It just the case that's it's a different time for a lot of people, here it is currently 17:49, while for others it can be 01:00 am or something.. so it just depends on what the time is in each country if the forum is more lively or not:P
This must be Schrodinger's thread. And it looks like we've reached a conclusion of sorts. The amount of activity depends on the time of day, day of the week and week of the year. Sure, there are times when the activity significantly dies down, but it's not something to make a thread about, unless a whole bunch of people simultaneously had their internet connection/power cut, which then would generate a thread following an actual news report on the incident rather than this thread.