For me, I found I just didn't "play it right." By which I mean I largely treated it as a solo game with a chat channel. My problem was I couldn't stand the idea of my pretty ships getting blown up, so I largely carebeared around on my own. In the end it wasn't worth paying the monthly fee given the way I played it, and the amount of time I was willing to put in.

I still think it's one of the greatest accomplishments in modern gaming, though - there's an entire society in there with its own social structure and spontaneous player-generated events.