Realistically, Dave Leip's forum would eventually fall without it.
True. I have no evidence to support this, but I firmly believe that without the page views generated by Update and related discussion, the forum would not generate enough ad revenue for Leip to continue to host it.
Agreed. Plus its return clearly helped to calm the masses in the wake of opebo's ban and the crisis that followed. What Bushie did for the forum on those dark days can be compared to what James Brown did for Boston after Dr. King's assassination. For that we must always be thankful to him.