Honestly I think credit goes to theymos for that -- he's the one that pays the bills & keeps the lights turned on. Much like Bitcoin itself, Bitcointalk doesn't need to do shit except for continue to exist and function as intended. The real value of the forum lies in the historic nature of posts by satoshi, Hal, Vitalik and other crypto luminaries. To those who are just visiting the forum as a casual reader, its stuff like this that gives Bitcointalk eternal relevance:



So basically if sig campaigns disappeared tomorrow, the forum would be fine & continue to exist. Not like its dependent on revenue to continue operating.