Because the Public Discussion Forums is the "Crown Jewel" of this site, I think that more emphasis should be placed on the Homepage, drawing attention to said jewel.

I have told newbies to come to this site to check it out and they say "All I saw was a bunch of news and stuff."  They clearly never ventured into the nondescript "forums" arena.

Perhaps a fancy button in addition to the existing one  at the top of the page?

Thanks for all you do GB.