Well, I've got plenty of time so I'm hoping I'm going to be one of the newbies that sticks around.
It's not really time that gets in the way. There's just one overlying problem and that problem is the nature of the community. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with how we act, but it drives some people away.
Now to explain that. The very first thing people will do is receive critique on their character. The critique could range "zomg is kewL" too "I hope your characters balls are finely minced with an angelic cheese shredder" and it can overall be based on just who is online. It seems like exaggeration but bad characters are noticed quickly by the community and really you'll only see new guys creating praise for everyone because they go around and see all these characters which presumably cause them to be "zomg, I wissh I hads thought of tHat.!!!!11.1!1" The older members "praise" composes of "Fite meh"
I would say though that alot of people get through this. Like, 95% of people don't give up at character creation.
But after that they expect an immediate response for a fight and sometimes they just don't get one. So they slowly fade into obscurity because they wouldn't challenge other people and expected to be challenged. Hell, there are lots of veterans you would never know are active because they're buried under the corpses of many inactive members and it's all because they don't challenge people or even talk here.
But then there's the main break and that's the first match... which you will almost always lose. And then people flock to tell you how to improve and the advice is taken as "I'm bad" as opposed to "They're giving me legitimate advice on how to improve so i can become a better writer"
Also...
I have a feeling you will be one of them...
OH THE SAVAGERY, WOMBO COMBO, GET REKT, OOOOHHH, WHERE ARE YOU AT? WHERE ARE YOU AT?