What Killed the player base was, The server being down for a couple of months. most people don't use the forums and others didn't want to wait. so than people left and once It actually came back there was a lot of mis communication, Im sure If you have some older minetime friends just from In game and you talked to them they probably didn't even know that minetime was back up.
How would anyone know if they were not told by others or checked back. The new (technically its both of them, but Crew is pretty busy I believe and Cyp shouldn't be considered any type of 'owner' by moral standards) owner(s), in all their grace intelligence and beauty, have decided against taking out of kind of advertisements, hence not letting anyone know Minetime is back, or even exists in the first place.