[klodolph]

> […] the userbase will eventually congregate to one place

There’s a big catch, though. “Eventually” is the key word. It takes a long time, and the disappearance of one forum does serious damage to the community, and the community has to go through the work of recovering from that damage.

I’ll say that I’m not sure it happens.

We often get this idea that these online communities are like magical cockroaches that will keep coming back. Being a /pol/ user is not the same thing as being a cockroach. You’re just a person. At some point, if being a /pol/ user is inconvenient and frustrating, then maybe you give it up. Site operators go broke or get tired of the community.

The internet does not make communities immune to attack.