xda the website is just like any other website that will take ad money. The developers are independent and do their own thing. xda is one of those relics of the

xda the website is just like any other website that will take ad money. The developers are independent and do their own thing. xda is one of those relics of the past that just has a large number of users. So you get visibility and QA for free. Other than that, replacing a forum like xda that is not ad run should not be that difficult if it weren't for the inertia.