Re: Use Forums without Groups?
@hitler – they are coming – I guess partly as a result of end users tearing their hair out – group forums has some interesting technical / logical reasoning behind it, but the user interface experience was far from perfect.
Check out @johnjamesjacoby post on the imminent new approach: https://buddypress.org/2010/08/buddypress-and-bbpress-the-future/
Note: now the presentation / interface features should be back in the hands of the theme developer. You can clutter / un-clutter as much as you like, use groups / not use groups, standalone / not standalone, etc. – it should be much more flexible, allowing you to craft better and more exceptional websites.