Risti says it well.

[whizbang]

I wish I had said all that.  Carefully thought out and well 
explained.  
X-Original-Yahoo-Groups-Redacted-From: "whizbang" <whizbang121 at ...>
X-Original-Yahoo-Groups-Redacted-X-Sender: whizbang121 at ...
X-Original-Yahoo-Groups-Redacted-Return-Path: <whizbang121 at ...>

I would like to add that the really good forums are not free, but a 
couple, and proboards.com comes to mind quickly, have been given 
high marks as free boards.  As in yahoo groups, there is advertising 
on the pages.  But perhaps it would be possible to try one hpfgu 
sister board in this type of forum as an experiment and see if it 
works out well.  We might discover that there's room for both types 
of board to function well.  As they will each attract those who are 
most comfotable in the format of the board they've chosen, there 
could be less frustration for all involved and more room to grow.

And who knows?  Perhaps a way will be found to move to a better if 
for $$$$ forum eventually.