One thing that I have been thinking about.
Could the fact most of the forum is 'private' be possibly driving away/scaring off those people who might first want to 'lurk around' or otherwise read other user comments before making a commitment to the game?
I completely agree with this. I heard about this Game probably a Month ago, but didn't try the Demo or do much Research of it, but it was on my "to to list" I only just got the Demo 4 days ago, and tried checking out these Forums to see what everyones oppinion of the Game would be, and was only greeted by a few topics with only the DEV's post in them. My initial thought was that this Game has either flopped, or the Gameplay just didn't live up to it's expectation.
Even after I did some more Research into the Game, I was still skeptical of purchasing it. There is not much on Youtube, and I didn't come across any Reviews ect ect for it. Only after I finally found a decent Let's Play [first 2 Phases] did I get a feel of what the Gameplay is like, and how the Lets Player was enjoying himself in it. That gave me the motivation to install the Demo and check it out for myself, and I did definitely enjoy it, although it was still in the back of my head of "how long this Game would stay in Development."
My Registration to the Forums was accepted after a few days, and I saw pages and pages of posts, and all positive [from what I read so far], which was definitely a relief. This is what gave me the push to purchase the Game, and would like to add that you have done a Fantastic Job!!!
In all honesty though the Graphics for this Game do lack, but the Gameplay makes up for it incredibly, but even though me, and probably most of the people who have purchased this Game don't care for Graphics, the majority of Gamers nowadays use that as a first impression, and if they can't hear what everyone else is saying, then they will most likely buy something else instead.
Point being, this is very off putting to people who tend to do Research into Games before purchasing. Although Steam will bring in some new Customers, I think at the end of the day, having these Forums more open to anyone interested will definitely help in the long run.