From a casual observer:
Couldn't care less about the forums. The broad information resources make SP unique - the true bread and butter of the site. They've aided in numerous routes and provided a number of outdoors opportunities not described on other sites. It's a pity to take content down simply because of the forums or other trivial reasons. The invaluable information some of you can provide is important for detailing mountaineering history, variety, culture, and opportunities for the younger generations.
Every time I view the forums, somebody is leaving or whining for one reason or another. The reasons tend to be fairly childish and counter-productive - ie "I'm leaving because the quality is going down; I'm leaving because the overall technical skill of the users is falling; I'm leaving because nobody takes the time to stroke my ego and vote on my content; I'm leaving because the mods are bullies and censor the forums; I'm leaving because somebody posts something controversial and the mods don't censor it."
C'mon. Really? The badasses who pioneered and documented all of these routes and provided the information to see others through the same routes safely are whining over trivial crap like that and dangling your information around like a series of hostages? Ye ol' softies. You're contributing to the reason you are disappointed; instead, contribute to the redeeming aspects of the site - the information, route descriptions, and articles. Else, the site is truly relegated to a mere shadow, waiting for another to take its place and your purpose and contributions to younger generations in this context will become lost.