1. Why? BigSoccer had the best forum software package of all of the forums I visit. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Why was the change necessary? 2. Are user rates down? 3. Is the moderator forum gone permanently?
1. The old forum was, in fact, "broke". It was taxing the servers at a rate that could barely be sustained and eventually would have failed. 2. not sure 3. They are up, but some of us (me included) can't see them right now. They are working on getting everyone access who needs it.
To number 1, we were spending untold thousands a month trying to keep up with shitty software buy using more hardware. Unsustainable technically and financially. No. No. Working on it.