i have to say im totally with bozza about not having it on the homepage.
a lot of the conversations are not FM related at all and someone who just clicked on the site would see this and feel intimidated by starting a new conversation.
getting people to use the forums first means they can get their answers quicker and also stops people from coming on and not making any input to the community.
and also kudos for the redesign of it especially the addition of links which has made things a lot easier.
personally i also find the time/date stamps useful as i work an awful shift so the only time i get to play FM is in the early hours of the morning when its sometimes unclear if a conversation is current or 2 hours old. | 
