I've always liked it despite it being slow. It had some nice things that other chans didn't have, though they usually don't last. For example, I remember them running their own torrent tracker before installgentoo and /mu/tracker were created.
I guess the comments about their elitism are coming from ultra-newfags, and I can sympathize with the 7channers in that regard. I wrote this in the same vein for a /cow/ thread on /pol/:
>Imagine you're at the movies with your friends. You have some in-jokes and you rib each other for fun. Then, someone approaches your group with the Encyclopedia Yourfriendsica. He has studied the banter. He pretends that he's been one of your friends all along, using your in-jokes–often incorrectly. When someone makes a joke in a weird way, he corrects him with the textbook definition of your in-joke.
>Eventually, more of them join your group. Eventually, your friends leave, and the group becomes a group of people impersonating your group of friends. The cycle continues indefinitely until the theater goes out of business.
I'm guessing that a relatively small group of people have stuck with them over the last nine years or so. A new, active user that nobody recognizes must stand out as much as a tripfag would to them.