I want to see the hexbear numbers to compare. It is funny to me how people can't let go of the language of a product that needs to be sold for a community run website provided for free. Engagement, growth, click thrus, daily average users all don't really matter as long as the people running it enjoy what they are doing and the people who show up do too.
If it is not fun for you that is a real issue, but you're not going to make it fun by chasing the tactics to grow a able-to-be-monetized product like attracting a large amount of teenager activity for example.