Chances are it just wasn't profitable - very, very few forums are. That's why ones that survive in the long term are often either connected to a larger site, or run for a different motive than money.
A lot of people here found their first home at AF, and will be sad to see it go. The worst part is the loss of so much early history of the Avatar community - we have archive.org but their snapshots are often incomplete. Either way, once I have a bit of spare time I will look into trying to scrape as consistent a mirror as I can and give it a permanent home on ToS.
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