Active admins as an example of entrances and exits

I'd be curious to ask a sample of editors from the past 3 years why they haven't decided to become an admin. Maybe compare that to the early adopters, and ask them why they decided to become an admin.

I've been fairly active in the RFA process on EN Wiki and nominated half a dozen of the last hundred new admins.

I haven't done a scientific sample, but most of the people I've nominated I first approached by Email, and I've approached a much larger number who I thought would make good admins. Most of the people I've approached have turned me down, and most of them because they don't fancy RFA.

Yeah, the environment around RFA is pretty nasty. The good news is if that's the main concern that people have, it's within our reach to fix it.