These forums I feel lack in many features other forums have, leading to it being difficult to use regularly.
some features id like to see that are common on other forums include:
1.Search feature, just a simple search bar to find threads with.
2. A way to view what threads you've interacted with. allowing for easy finding again of posts you've made or have interacted with.
3. Organization options, Being able to organize the order of threads by categories such as recently active, or unanswered threads.
overall I think these features would make the forums much more use-able and also make it easier to manage for moderation. perhaps some preexisting forum engine could be embedded in the website and work? while I don't know how you would implement it, most forum websites have these features so I believe they would help here too.