I think that if we want to regain our popularity in comparison to the Center, it is better to concentrate on improving ourselves in areas where they are weak rather than areas where they are strong. Therefore, I think it's instructive to compare the main pages and forum indeces, starting with the latter.

Examining the number and compisition of each site's categories and forums is very illuminating, albiet subjective. By my count, the Guild is divided into eleven categories, of which I count eight being directly related to discussion of Total War. These include six categories for the PC games, one category for the console games, and one category for the series as a whole. By contrast, the Center has three more categories in total but two less for Total War, owing to it not having a category for console games and the fact that it merges the first three PC games into one, while we merge Empire and Napoleon together.

The difference is even more stark comparing forums. The Guild's main page shows 41 forums, 34 of which directly relate to Total War. These are the forums for guides in the 'New Members' section, as well as the forums for the games and the series. The Center has as whopping 59 forums but only 26 are directly related to Total War! They have twenty for the games (including a special forum for NTW tournaments, which is a nice touch), three for the series and a forum each for artists, writers and Community RPGs. These last three are debateable however, as unlike their Orgah equivalents they are not placed within the "Totalwar Series" category but rather in categories for the TWCenter community. They seem less focused on Total War in particular.

Just to summarize, here are the numbers showing what fractions of each sites categories and forums are devoted to the Total War series. Keep in mind some cases are subjective.

Org Categories: 8/11 (approx. 75%)
Org Forums: 34/41 (80%+)

Center Categories: 6/14 (>50%)
Center Forums: 26/59 (>50%)

This comparison shows where we can focus on our strengths without trying to compete with the Center's strengths. The talk about getting rid of the JM/SM distinctions seems sound, and we should go one further and reorganize the Guild. I would eliminate the "New Members" and "HoF 2010" categories, placing the "Guides" forums into the same category as their respective games while the rest of the forums go into the "Miscellaneous" category. Let's make it so that all the categories either have "Total War"/"TW" in the name if they're not the "Miscellaneous" category, and make so that the first category listed is the one hosting discussion of the latest game. IMHO, new members don't want to stick around in the new members section because that's never where the real conversations are. If the first thing they see are the forums for Shogun 2, that'll give them a better impression. And if they see that almost all of the forums at the Org are for the Total War series while most of the forums at the Center aren't, it'll look like the Org is the place for talking about Total War. That's the kind of distinction that will attract high-quality members.