Chanster, that's why I said "in the long run."
Going back to the earlier days of Hib/Lance, all you really need is 40-60 people who give a crap and try to work together. Once they have some success, other people buy into it. The Albs who would stay, if that were the case, would be the kind of people who could be successful. That's just human nature. The slackers and hangers-on would be the first to leave, most likely. The people who cared would stay.
I think anyone who has been around since '01 would say that the population imbalance has hurt everyone. However, there have been long periods where it has actually helped Hib and Mid as much as there were long periods where it really, really hurt. And that is simply because of numbers. You just have to work better together to survive. It wears on you after awhile, always being the underdog, though.
Anyways, it's an old debate and will continue as long as the servers are running