Hi Dyamismom,
Welcome to the forum..
Tomorow I will be moving this topic to the connection issues area, but wanted you to be able to find it first, so will do my best to get started helping you.
I am curious what your definition of lonely dark place is ..
Yes the network is smaller, means fewer files, means fewer folks but a rough at best estimate is around 800,000 and thats an old one too..
So this makes me wonder what the problem is your having, if you could be more specific then maybe I can lead you into the light ..