When I first came here, I must say I echoed your concerns regarding feeling 'welcomed' and part of a community.
But, I kept trucking along, posting actively in the IC forum (a good, good way to get noticed), finding obscure things to do with (or too) other characters, etc.
Eventually I found myself embroiled in a 'major' quest (though I understood very, very little of what happened during it because it involved a lot of long-time players).

I would very much like to play, but my internet connection on my gaming/work machine is down until I can purchase another Wireless Network (Running a wired from 1999, wires dont' go through the whole house lol), but even before I lost my internet connection I was running into the same players as you and the same feeling of lack of drive.  Few players online (And those that were usually were grouped together running a dungeon, or sitting around the campfire emoting things, being their silent unfriendly selves), little DM interaction save for the occasional major quest. I find I had to bug a DM to get attention, though I use the term bug loosely.

I would say bring in more GDMs, and take those GDMs out of the people who actually stay logged in for more than an hour; form some kind of contract that at least asks the GDM to perform the duties of his position at least a couple hours every two or three days; or make a quest quota, or something. Inject some adrenaline into LotN before it collapses.

To be honest, I'd rather a split of MS to Boots and Hide to Cloaks.

=/
Oxycodone or Vicodin will help with pain, or should.

I have spent some time away from the Neverwinter region.  Once again, I have found myself within the confines of the always familiar camp in the middle of Neverwinter Wood.  It is a curiosity, that I always find myself back here.  Some inner compulsion I cannot avoid.  It feels right, and when I leave, it feels wrong.  I need to discover what it is I am destined to find here.

So far, I have encountered no one, save two young adventurers.  I intend to pay a visit to the Many-Starred Cloaktower and appraise myself of current events, but I believe I shall rest first before making the journey.

You could redo the entrance to signify the rebirth of the server.

-Random Suggestion #1

It's taken me two - three years to get to the level I am at now.  On top of that, I've developed her as I played; I didn't make her and she acted the same way, she has been a living, breathing entity that has changed in noticeable ways due to the roleplaying that I have experienced while playing her, generally due to the other characters in this server that I am sure whose players would be aggravated to have to start over.

To put it plainly, it'd piss me off to a new level if my character were to be deleted.

The most active DM goes. =/

The first donation to the relief effort was known to be made by a Wizardess dressed in dark and silvery-blue clothing.  It is said that the first notice of the disaster at Port Llast came to the attention of the Churches by way of this wizardess.  After insisting that she be given supplies to give to the ruined town's homeless, she promptly dropped a large bag of coin amounting to 10,000 Golden Lions and leaving.