Is there any way to customize the topic URLs to be based off of topic ids (ex: /forums/topic/1) instead of using the topic titles in the URL?
Empty out your database via phpMyAdmin, and try again.
My two cents (if it’s worth anything): Keep bbPress 1.1 and continue to maintain it. However, get a new dedicated group of developers to actively code and maintain a wordpress forum plugin (named differently like talkpress for example). And on both website’s front pages, specifically list the differences between bbPress and “talkPress” so people won’t get confused.
Unfortunately that seems to be the only way for now. Thanks, though.