[kazinator]

Your comments may be true about most end-user forums, but it seems that "Ask Patents" really is different.

Firstly, from the help page:

"Ask Patents blocks dangerous applications by alerting the US Patent Examiner of record when good Prior Art is found for an application that he or she is examining."

Secondly, the site contains examples of patents that were rejected with the site's help. You can search for questions with the [rejected] tag:

"The rejected tag is used on patent applications and patents which have been successfully narrowed or rejected by the USPTO after having been the subject of a prior-art-request on Ask Patents."

When we search for questions with this tag, we see text like "This Patent Application received a Final Rejection by the US Patent Office! The rejection was based in part on prior art found by Ask Patents community below!"