p.s. One feature that was nice in a threaded forum I used to frequent (Slate's The Fray before it was upgraded) was the ability to expand all threads (show authors/dates/subject lines) from the forum front page, both individually and as a whole. In this way, you could get a taste for a thread or see if someone you like is in it before deciding whether or not to enter it. It's a feature that was common in old-school threaded forums.
bspeak is an example, (you have to register to expand/collapse the threads).
-Edward