Social media - peoples own Instagram accounts and a couple of Facebook groups, including Ride Inspired and Trials Bikes from the 90s have really stolen traffic away from this forum.
When you look at events like the UCI World Champs in Glasgow and the Barcelona street ride, you could be forgiven for thinking trials was very much still alive. The slight problem is that there isn't much, from what I can see, new people coming into the sport. There is the odd parent taking it up so they can be involved with what their kids are doing at the comps but they are likely buying 2nd hand bikes.
The Scottish Bike Trials Club does its best to make trials accessible to as many as possible, giving riders the chance to ride indoors during the winter and holds comps in varying locations so that throughout the year people have longer or shorter journeys to the venues. We hold a mountain bike category so that anyone wanting to give comps a go don't need to commit to buying a trials bike to get involved.
Insta accounts like Aaron Lutze @superridertv does a great job of breaking down the basics for new riders, which is good to see. Back in the day I had to pause VHS tapes to see what body position riders were in for taps, gaps, side hops etc, so new riders don't know how good they've got it.
Are trials frames and parts just too good now? No one needs to upgrade as much as they used to. I'd snap a set of echo urban forks every few months or crack a frame every 6 months to a year. Now there's inspired or trial tech forks which I don't think I've ever broken! So there's less riders buying less stuff now.
Anyway, so all in all I don't think trials is completely dead, its just as small and niche as its always been.