It was just a few pages on the Auction section to see what they are at least for the year 2022, but upon looking at the last threads, they're mostly gambling ads.
It looks to be the same for previous years too. There are some services that cannot be verified directly through the usernames that made the bid, but at least 1 in 5 was a non casino related service, which is far less than what we see with signature campaigns today (in the absence of mixers).
Even if the forum loses popularity, it is still great for SEO purposes because of the notoriety of being the forum that Satoshi and many other notable people were members of.
Signature campaigns are great for creating a space for yourself and building reputation but not for SEO purposes.
- Jay -