I going to be honest now, and, no doubt, none of you are going to like what I say. (Nothing new there.)
I have never warmed up to phpBB.
Oh yes, I'm sure it will make things easier for the adminstrators when/if they figure it out. But it has yet to work right, even before this new tinkering. I guess that's what we get when we use a bulletin board code that sounds like someone razzing or dismissing us. (Don't believe me? Try pronouncing phpBB.)
PhpBB

version 1's worst habit was that it tended to take a break from working whenever it felt like it, leaving anyone who wanted to enter the forums stymied as phpBB

claims it doesn't feel like connecting with the database. (To be fair, that has probably been fixed with the upgrade.)
To be fair to the administrators, PhpBB

version 2's just been installed, so they're bound to still have some nasty bugs to iron out (such as the slow load time,
if it loads without pretending that it is. I have to hit the button twice more to get the thing to load up - the second hit to stop the failed first loadup and a third click to start over).
I imagine, that if anyone else posted this, you all would do two things, depending on who I was. You would either nod and agree I had a point, but caution me to reserve my final judgement until things settle down (which I am doing) or flame me like a bunch of cranky dragons.
However, if the past is any indication, I will be ignored and this post will be passed by as if it never existed.
"The more you observe politics, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other." ~ Will Rogers