My 2 cents:

Count me among the members who would hate to see this place go. And I say that as someone who has "left" more than once.

It may not be as bustling as it once was but there's no place I'd rather go to talk about new FF releases, as I have been doing for the past 15 years.

I'd hate for a Final Fantasy XVI or an FFVII Remake sequel to come out and then have no place to talk about it but a flying wall of discord messages.

One of the great things about this forum, largely, is that due to the small but dedicated userbase, the site has matured with the members. There's no way I'm going to go to like a GameFAQs and revert to a populous of teenage one upmanship.

I would ask the people who turned your ownership offer down if they'd reconsider under the condition that it be fully funded on like a Patreon. At that point, it's at no cost to them aside from keeping the lights on.