One thing about posting to the forum that has often irked me, but I kept forgetting about is the way you have to go all the way in to the main forum page in order to start a new thread. I'm wondering if it might be possible to add a new link to the "Forums" sidebar list that would allow you to go right in and immediately create a new thread, a "Create a new Thread" link. The particular forum you want to post to could easily be chosen from a pull down menu in the post writing page.
