The thing on the right. Seems like nobody's here (understandably).

That poll over the title of the supposed sequel to the game. It takes wiki edits and forum activity into account and not many games have multiple threads going at once so a single popular thread tied to a game's board is often enough to put it on that chart for a minute.

Man, for a second there I thought this game was becoming some kind of cult classic, and that would have been some Shenmue kind of shit that I could have enjoyed observing from a safe distance.

It's still there. Where's the poll?

Check the game's forum page, you'll see the poll. Anyway, try not to lose too much sleep over this, that popular section has been weird since 2008. It's nothing to worry about.