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1. If you're relatively new to pbp, what drew you in? And what makes you think you can stay the course for 2-3 years or longer that it takes for an AP?
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2. If you've been on the site playing for a year or so and ate in a handful of games but haven't been playing pbp for multiple years, why do you think games fail? And why do people leave?
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3 if you're a long time player and you know what it takes fora successful game why do you quit an AP? What keeps you 'into it'?
Along with several other systems, I've been playing PF for about... 10 years? Somewhere around there. Most of it has been PbP, with a smattering of face to face. I haven't used the Paizo forums much, but I'm active on a couple other PbP sites, and I've been in quite a few games. It's rare for me to quit an AP. I've had a couple where real-world medical issues just made posting regularly an issue, and a couple where the GM turned out to be an unpleasant person. No gaming is better than bad gaming, in those cases.
What keeps me into a game is the people I'm playing with. Most of the APs tell good stories, and that's a definite plus, but if all I wanted was a story I could read a novel. Even just quiet RP moments, or the ways personalities mesh (or don't!) is fun and motivating for me. PC-to-PC roleplay is the real meat and potatoes of a game, and if that side of things is compelling I'll happily play for ages.
4. Finally look over your inactive games if you've applied for a lot and end up quiting or it fails ...why? In other words if there's a huge amount of inactive games whether started by you or applied for by you and there's very little played or finished...why?
In my experience, PbP games die like flies, and die quickly.
For example, I've been in five PbP Curse of the Crimson Throne campaigns. The most successful made it all the way to fighting Gaedren Lamm, the boss of part one of book one. I would love to have an AP actually be the years-long commitment people say they are, because 90% of the ones I've played died in a month or two, if that. It's a special thing to actually get a long-term game, but they're often lightning in a bottle and the result of a lot of behind-the-screen work. I'm running one long-term game myself, a homebrew world 5e game, and you really get a sense for how fragile PbP is when you're the one running things.
Almost all my unfinished games ended because the GM vanished, or had some real-world issue come up. The latter is just life, but the former are disheartening. Player attrition is a pain, but there's always someone willing to step in. I've never had a game die because we lost too many players, just paused to re-recruit (and re-re-recruit, and...).
If there are any specific weak points for me, really big dungeon crawls, the room-by-room, clear out the fifth bunch of random orcs, "hurray, onto the fifth floor!" "What's up there?" "More orcs!" type, absolutely kill morale and motivation. I've never quit a game because of one, but boy have I wanted to. I think they're a poor fit with PbP pacing, where being in combat for months at a time is a distinct possibility, depending on posting speed. I love a neat build and cleverness in combat as much as anyone, but making the XP number get bigger isn't a reason to play on its own. The characters and their story are.