I'm into webdesign and I would just like to make a suggestion. I'm sure it won't be taken into concideration but it never hurts to voice one's opinion anyways.

Have you ever considered using PhpBB instead of this forums system? PhpBB is easier to navigate and work with in general. It's also more powerful and has just about any addon that one could think of. Phpbbhacks.com lists all of the modifications that are possible to apply. It's also very skinnable and would be easy to make a nice theme tailored to the site rather than just a color theme and a banner as it is now. Not to mention it's also open source and free, being developed on a lot it's quite secure and has updates on a regular basis.

I've used it myself for several occasions. You can view one example of it being used at http://forums.gentoo.org/.

I'm not trying to advertise nor do I have any personal preference, I simply favor whatever has better functionality. Though this is all my opinion and other's might think the opposite. I believe if phpbb was used it could put on a more professional look for this website and boost the community participation.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts about this.