The point is they don't nose in and act like the all-powerful company that knows all. They are there to manage the forums and make sure members can easily find each other. They are more like a library, and members are the books. No one company can pump it through a pipe at a profit. They Use A very interesting side note to the forums is its forum rating mechanism.
Members have the opportunity to voice their satisfaction with the products they use.
This ratings information will only get more and more interesting as the sites grow. Vendors are recused from the ratings system, but all members can review the results. Dave also has the capability to catch and correct unusual fluctuations in data. So, any vendor thinking they can overrun the forums and skew data ought to think twice. You have to be a member to rate, and also have declared yourself NOT a vendor.