It would only be fair to have a beauty contest before choosing the moderator. I want to see you walk in heels before I vote for you.
I think we’ll pass on the swimsuit competition, though.
It seems to me that if a forum does not have a few new questions and a few answers almost daily the forum tends to languish. A family of forums called Gardenweb was flourishing between about '97 to '01. They added about 60-80 titles and now most persons with gardening questions just slap them in the first active title they come across. The whole thing became unmanageable and someone sold it someone else who is reportedly owned by NBC. There is not much gardening information there anymore.
That’s the way it’s supposed to be. We want to give some extras to paying members, and allowing them to start threads in the Marketplace forum is one way of doing so.
It also prevents spammers (who NEVER buy a subscription) from starting threads there.
I will agree with this. This is one of the many reasons I’ve become known among my friends as “the guy who knows a little about a lot”. Due to the fact I’ve been on the dope for over a decade now (don’t look at my join date, remember that is only when I wanted to ask my first question), I like the way this board is set up. I’ve been hanging out here for over ten years, the only thing I’ve been doing for as long as I’ve been here is my wife. I’ve been on the dope for a third of my life, and it is one of my joys. It is the top bookmark on all my browsers and phones.
I like the “type” of discussion format. Questions which actually have actual answers (GQ), questions that don’t (IMHO), questions that will have a debate (GQ), questions on a posted comment on Straightdope.com (CSR, CC). Questions on the arts (CS), questions on any type of game (GR), Things people want to share as a community (MPSIMS), and stuff that bothers people, including other dopers (BBQ).
I know exactly where I should go depending on the type of thing I want to read. I spend most of my time here, but am still mostly a lurker, even if since I’ve gone through school, I have more GQ type questions I can answer. Heck, the more I learn, the higher my post count goes 
So, to answer the question in a GQ type way, the reason we have forums in a “type” instead of a “topic” is because the people who support this board like it that way. I like it the way it is. The only major change I would vote in favor of is combining CSR and CC. In both cases, the “type” of question is the same, something that was posted on Straightdope.com.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Cafe Society spun off of IMHO, and not GQ?
The only way I could see this sort of thing working is with tags, so that the forums were still populated. Actual subforums, as explained above, would not work, but I think a small number of predefined tags might.
The only problem I see is that an actual search would have to be run if you want to see threads that only have a certain tag. While it would be less taxing than a regular search, I don’t know if the board can take it.
Especially without a full-time tech operator that could make it work.
I"ve mentioned this before, but the latest poop question proves the need for a PQ forum. I think the process of choosing a mod would make the effort absolutely worth it.
One very minor correction. I believe the boards used UBB prior to turning to vB. Not that it had a big difference - UBB functioned very similarly and had much the same appearance.
And this is also correct.
Both, really. Factual questions about entertainment went in GQ, and opinions went in IMHO. Same with the Game Room, although game threads themselves (IIRC) mainly went in MPSIMS and sports threads were in CS.