@OP
You can't call an important philanthropic website as big as BitcoinTalk a mafia for a signature campaign with a budget of 4 BTC seven years ago.  Bitcoin price in 2016 is probably $700-963.  You can't call a popular forum like Bitcoin Forum a mafia with a budget of 3000-3600 dollars at that time.

You imagine the importance and role of Bitcoin Forum in the current context, Bitcoin Forum currently not only discusses about Bitcoin but also presents various images of the whole world, political context, economic context, cultural context, entertainment etc. to the world.  You can easily get to know about the culture and cultural diversity from one country to another country at a glance through this forum.
This forum works like a news paper as you always get daily updates on Bitcoin and other currencies.
Bitcoin discussion

The importance of this forum is immense for you to know the economic condition of different countries and to know the political context of different countries every day.  If you visit this forum once a day, you can easily know the political and economic context of different countries of the world.
[ DO NOT POST SESC LINKS #3]Economic[/url]
Politics & Society

You can easily learn about different countries of the world, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and dozens more through this forum.
[ DO NOT POST SESC LINKS #5]local[/url]

You can easily get to know about football, cricket, boxing, NBA, etc. organized in different parts of the world through this forum.
Gambling Discussion

Finally I can say, Bitcoin forum is not just a public welfare website but it is a mirror of the whole world with thousands of news published daily.