What functionality is missing? What is unsatisfying with the current situation?

Forums are a great way for players to get more involved in their community and I would love to see them to become more interactive and informative for the communities. In terms of a design aspect, the discussion boards currently have a lot of "white space" on the right hand side and do not really offer any opportunity to add additional information to make the forums interactive/informative for the community.   I would love to see more options to fill out that white space through "recent post/thread by x user" showcased on the right hand side of categories and threads. This gives players a lot more information on current posts and threads   In addition, it would be great to include an opportunity to have "top posters", "most liked posts" that would encourage players to get involved in forum posts and begin discussions.  

How does this feature request address the current situation?

Adding these two additional features will allow for a lot more information for players to get involved in and encourages them to do so. They will be able to see which threads are active, what are the most recent posts and want to get involved in it.