I've been playing WA and WWP for over ten years, but this is the first time I've been to this site. I just registered today. Previously I played a port of WWP and WA on the Sega Dreamcast. That was a long time ago. I only played with my friends (but there were many of us to play) on my television, local games. Never could play over WormNet. I got the PC version, but it was not legit. I wanted to play online, but could not because it wasn't legit. I was of course willing to pay for the game but could not find it. Finally I had to order the game from Team17 store and have the discs sent overseas. The price was rather high if I recall and still I was unable to play online. I had to read through many help files about IP's being hardcoded into the game, and making edits myself so that I would be able to play online.
     My point is there have been many barriers to getting to play this game online, the reason to get involved in the community. The Team17 forums were a joke, the wiki still can't fix issues with hosting games, it's been the burden of the community to create work-arounds. I have recently bought the game again through Steam. I'm encouraging my friends to do this because now it will be easier for them to obtain and maintain the game.
     As for how to get newcomers to the site, a member of this site by the name of philie referred me here when I met him through WormNet. I suggest others engage in the WormNet chat more...