As I say later, we’re probably more in a middle size. Many threads, we have about the right number of people. A few - like the breaking news threads or very popular debates like health care - you end up with more people contributing than can really all fit together comfortably.
One might say that this is a self-sustaining system. If you get too many people contributing then some percentage will become disheartened, slowly lose interest in the website, and leave. It may be an inhibitor to growth and it keeps us at a “just on the edge of too-big” level.
Plausibly, implementing a system that allows people to share the same space more effectively, would help to increase the customer base of the website without dropping the quality of conversation nor pushing people out.