> Spam has been getting worse
> Mongo timeout
> Clunky software
> Refugees

Yeah I feel your frustrations.

Running a site this large has some serious challenges.
After five years there's a gargantuan amount of data - even after the losses.

To an extent the engine is clustered which provides some degree of redundancy and availability.
Though this also introduces technical issues of its own.
The software is a custom fork of Lynxchan - without which none of us would be here so I can't bag it.
Though clearly improvements could be made. NodeJS and Mongo is an interestingly distinct combination.
It's not even worth mentioning the hardware or transit constraints.

Sadly there is also political opposition.