It feels like we're on two different subjects here in some ways. The WP.org support forums and bbPress don't necessarily have to be tied to the same conversation. There are features that should be added to the support forums but shouldn't be added to the core of bbPress.

I definitely agree that the WP.org forums could use a little sprucing up — in the form of plugins. Better user-thread management is something that should probably be addressed in bbPress.

The one thing that's so great about bbPress right now is that it's extremely lightweight. It literally serves every need I have. Sure, there are things I want, but I'm not certain they should be a part of the core.

Even though WordPress is fairly lightweight, more features keep getting piled on. Jeff, even you've written about bloat and WordPress. I'd hate to see bbPress go down this road of piling on new features. Sure, many forum users might consider some things as standard compared to other forum software, but the great thing is that it's very modular — you can pick and choose the features you want through plugins. Granted, a lot of those plugins have yet to be written.

MichaelH's list is pretty solid though. It does address some real needs for the support forums on WP.org. Some of these things can be added to the support forums right now and shouldn't reflect poorly upon bbPress.

And, as you've said, the search sucks. I learned to use Google long ago.

One last thought: My hope is that one day WPTavern will join in the ranks as a WordPress-/bbPress-powered site.