I see what you mean. Well I think we've already got a lot of really good initiatives, and concepts going on, but many get turned off by the usability issues. Even I can't stand scrolling through threadcasts these days (or even my own playlists) because of the choppiness.
Hopefully we'll be back to a smooth user experience soon though. At that point it should also be easier to show and inspire people what they actually can participate in building. Sticky polls was a huge engagement generator for instance, and we've just scratched the surface of what we can do with it. Creativity and presence is required. 100% agree that it's first and foremost the users(owners) that needs to do this. We just need the basics to be in place.
We also need the mindset in place. Too many are accustomed to looking for others to do it for them. That is Web 2.0 since, there, we are just users.
Innovation is the key. The more that people build themselves, the greater the interactions that can take place. InLeo is simply the infrastructure which, as you pointed out, is buggy.
Not to mention the mindset, for sure.
We just have to keep putting it on the agenda, repeating it again and again and again, while at the same time showing concrete examples of how it can be done. People typically don't understand ideas, they understand finished products.
90% of people will not get it no matter how much we say and do I think, but the last 10%... I'm convinced there are plenty of capable people around here just waiting for that spark of an idea to find their angle/inspiration to finally get seriously involved. Like me with Music on Leo.