Thanks for everything you do Chaosmagnet
I know nothing about forum management and technology, but seems to me that what is needed to establish a new forum is to rename the "Marketplace" to "EDC STUFF", for example. If this is true, then may I dare to suggest doing it first, and it may help to attract EDC enthusiasts.
As all of us know, forum membership and activity have spiralled downward globally after the invention of social media. So, it maybe hard to gather enough votes to rename the sub-forum as a first step. OTOH, an existing EDC STUFF sub-forum may attract a few members. And if it doesn't, the forum as is has been inactive for years. Not much to lose.
Just my 2¢