STM is only as "dead" as WE make it.
Bad blood? well get over it an move on. the whiners and snipers tend to weed themselves out over time. wht's left is ppl who care about subies and ask for help with questions and projects...which is the good part of this forum.
The best way to keep STM going and growing is to be self-policing. In other words, if you get riled up about something on here, maybe it's best to think twice (or thrice) before you press the "post" button.
That would cut down the bad blood quotient by a factor of 10 at least.