I believe the owners are connected but haven't followed their developments. No direct admittance also from their end. I just knew that they ran sig campaign under yobit's management before.
They are banning many countries but quality is still not good as they are still on very low level many members still replying same answers which is happening from start so mods are doing nothing for improving any thing and they will down and out soon.
There have been many forums like this, long before Cryptotalk appeared like Bitcoingarden, Altcointalk, etc. but there is no real development like Bitcointalk.
of the many forums that I follow, only this forum is still crowded and growing.
I am sure Cryptotalk will be quiet as the previous forums, forums created and initiated with payments like Cryptotalk will not last long, because the forum has the purpose of enlivening the forum by paying a few sat, and what happens if the forum does not pay any more because quality remains mediocre because it's a kind of bribe to its users. so I think the forum will be abandoned by users when they don't pay another 1,000 sat.
except for forums that are born to accommodate members with the awareness of the users themselves, and have a positive effect on the forum and are made crowded and developed so members are more comfortable.
as of now they have about 200k+ users but don't know what percentage are really active users. or most of them are just using that forum for additional income of satoshis? once they stop paying that 1k per post, do you think there are still users that will post diligently on their forum? though it is another source of crypto info, but I don't think they will ever compete the popularity of this bitcointalk forum.