I dont know that it's really dead, moonromance.net is supposed to make a comeback sometime soon. I post ecchi fics here and i think there's plenty of interest still; my two stories have gotten close to 8 thousand hits in about 4 months. PGSM did a little to reinvigorate the SM franchise on this side of the pacific, but someone really needs to secure the rights and do a redub staying true to the source. How much can the rights possibly cost these days?
Btw, i'm a long time fan too. SM was the first anime I watched that I realized was an anime. (I just thought Robotech was really bad ass, didn't know anything about the japanese connection at the time). I started with the dub but quickly moved to the subs, although I still get a little nostalgic for the first run of dubs.