It might be preferable to some to make the forum look busy by having a big members list, but IMO I'd rather have a shorter and cleaner list with real members.
I take pleasure in seeing a big number, too, but I have to agree here. There are many dead accounts, a number of which have no posts at all. Someone just signs up and then loses interest/time/means to attend. Some come back in a while, but I suspect a lot of comebacks might be ending up with double accounts, after plain forgetting both the old password and login name.
Not that this matter creates ANY trouble for me personally, though - just thinking aloud on the subject.
Cannot sticky/unsticky posts.
Somehow I've missed the forum's ability to do so in the first place.
We have an awful chat and I refuse to sit around anymore because I've been asking for a new one for months.
We have had CYBER BULLYING on that chat, which I witnessed firsthand. I had to read all the insults being slung at the person, while desperately trying to ban the bully and some heartless spectators who hung around for a laugh- only to find out that I couldn't. I was almost crying in frustration and anger at the end of the evening.
How is this okay? How can anyone be content with the chat after seeing this? Maybe you don't care about our chat being improved ASAP, but I do. I think our members should have at least better protection. Kera was there; if she needed any motivation to find a new chat, it should have been then and not when winter started being more vocal with her complaints. Who says an incident like that can't happen again? With our current chat's vulnerabilities, it's so easy.
I may be deaf to the problem since I hardly ever visit the chat at all... But honestly, when it first appeared, I had an impression that it was CPM-exclusive. I SO don't want to seem unfriendly here, but if the problem Winter describes is crucial, then is there a possibility of limiting the chat to the forum's community? Trolls are an omnipresent species, and with the open access the chat boasts now, you'd never surprise me by stating that it's sometimes full of "anons" who
couldn't care less about Yuki Kajiura, related topics or the fandom. That's the problem with open chats, alas. Meanwhile, actually registering at the forum is something many trolls/bullies are too lazy to do, so I can't recall us EVER having a lot of those here (even before the Mod Team was created). And for passerbies who want to say something relevant without registering at the forum, there's the site with the comment system and the shoutbox (both of which have better means of tracking down the dialogue than the chat has).
I don't mean to hurt those who came to the forum by engaging in the chat first, but if the problem does stand, this is the easiest solution I imagine. If the chat engine doesn't support permanent registration or synchronizing with the forum account, we could go around by stuffing the link somewhere and/or making it visible for registered users (with or without certain post count, optionally?). Although synchronizing (or somehow being only able to use one's registered nickname, if possible) would be useful anyway - that would make moderation easier and potential trolls/bullies/simply VERY hot-tempered people more conscious of their behaviour.
I too would support a forum that would block spam before it arrives but providing that it wouldn't look so weird like bbpress does.
Can't say anything about the other forum's design... It really leaves me emotionless. Nothing too good or bad about it. Sorry for not having an opinion here.
hm, what was it George has said some posts above about the length of my posts? 
Although it was never a consealed fact that they were created for this very purpose.