>I'd assume theymos wouldn't want the site shut down and/or face other legal issues.
Perhaps, but AFAIK promoting unregistered securities & unlicensed online gambling is not strictly legal in US either, is it?
>Please point out where the forum is being overrun with CP, drugs and guns.
My point precisely. The forum is not being overrun by CP, drug & gun sales, without subforums being created for any of that. Because against forum policy.
Bitcointalk is not about providing a platform for degenerate gamblers, it's about discussion and promotion of Bitcoin. Having Bitcoin associated with ponzis is bad for Bitcoin. Promoting ponzis on Bitcointalk is bad for Bitcoin. This is prima facie shit, the fact that I need to explain this is, frankly, worrying.
This forum is not powerless at policing its policies. Millions of dollars were donated to Bitcointalk (not millions at the time of donation, but thanks to BTC price increase). If you feel that's not enough to pay for forum moderation, I guess I got nothing.
Historically the site has taken the stance of moderating content as little as possible and really I do not see that changing. Obviously, they cannot allow some topics (such as CP) for legal reasons. Could the gambling and securities sections be a legal risk for the forum/theymos? Perhaps, but (given those sections existence) it is obviously something that is currently deemed acceptable.
As a side note, you can actually sell guns on this forum as long as you are doing it in a legal manner. For example, if you were in the US, you have to post that it is a FFL to FFL US only sale.