If LAN had had its current stature and upward trend when the forums were originally created, IMHO it would have gotten one without a second thought. If it had maintained an activity level based on the current rate of LAN-related posts, it would have kept it.

In some ways, we may have gotten a bit too uptight about a few things lately. I'm not suggesting we should play fast and loose with the forum structure by making wholesale changes every day, but this is not exactly (to use two U.S. examples) deficit reduction or national health care. Why not just do it?