I haven't been on SA in a long time so I'm sorry if this isn't perfectly accurate but
It's very easy to get banned like in GBS or D&D and without a doubt the site isn't funny anymore, but what about the hobby boards? The argument has been made that the gaming communities they form around releases are pretty good, for example. I think that a lot of people who "support lowtax" don't care about HIM they just really don't want to lose whatever community they're a part of within the forum.
Don't they have a pretty big warhammer community too or something? And sports discussion? They have some nerd hobby niche shit that has been around a loooooong time (in that sense they ARE unique, to be fair) and those people don't want to lose their little roosts on the internet. They really do think of their communities as being so much better than reddit, etc. So, imo goons may appear stupidly "loyal" and maybe some are but I think it's more that they are stubborn.
Lowtax might have been able to coast forever thanks to the obstinate nature of goons. yes, the idea of a paywalled forum is ludicrous nowadays so growth is stagnant but goons dig their heels in. There are enough oldfags that would have fully funded (through a combo of micro-transactions and patreon) a comfortably modest lifestyle for lowtax until retirement age! It is only because of lowtax's consistently horrendous decision making over many years that his lifestyle has become so much more expensive. Now here he is looking at divorce #2..