Although there is a lot of support for this point of view, I'm pretty sure that the origination of the BABB/BAUT ATM was grounded in the need to extract the noise of ATM theories from the general science discussion. IOW, it would be harder to maintain a discussion if the ATM points of view were constantly brought up in the middle of threads--ATM theories tend to antagonize each other even. As it is now, just a single ATM post can be moved to the ATM forum, and with very little objection, and virtually no disruption to the non-ATM discussion. Which is not to say that the non-ATM discussion is right, or wrong, just that it is widely-recognized that there is such a thing as a Mainstream and that a lot of people are interested in the Mainstream interpretation (even if it is only to help form their own ATM theory! )

Now, with its existence a fact, the ATM has taken on a bit of life of its own, and some people have expressed a hope that it might bear fruit. But, to answer the OP, it serves a far more useful and immediate purpose as well.