Preson, I'm not a conspiracy theorist (also not implying you are) but I have wondered the same exact thing several times. They literally shot themselves in the foot in a fantastic way and single handedly shutdown many forums in the process. Did they honestly think everyone would suddenly cough up $400 a year for hosting?
Thanks for sharing the Hot Rod article, the finished car turned out well. Too bad hot Rod's site is absolute chaos to navigate thanks to the ads. I feel for someone who is A.D.D.