This was Coach's idea and I thought it was interesting. I spoke to the developer, basically asking if it was possible. Apparently it is, as it has been enacted. Since it's done, I'm going to see how it goes.
No secret that I'm not happy with the forum software. I'm tired of promising an upgrade by a specific date, so I won't. But I sincerely hope that by next June we'll have something better. That said, very few forums even have a "topics view" (ie secret button), so that feature will probably be gone.
"You just need to go at that shit wide open, hang on, and own it." —Camp