[_ck_]

Total shot in the dark here as I can’t debug this code but try replacing in your routine above:

<?php // $top_topics = bb_top_topics(); ?>

with

<?php // $top_topics = bb_top_topics();

global $bbdb;

$where = apply_filters('get_latest_topics_where','WHERE topic_status=0');

$query = "SELECT * FROM $bbdb->topics LEFT JOIN $bbdb->meta ON object_id=topic_id $where AND object_type='bb_topic' AND meta_key='avg_rating' ORDER BY cast(meta_value as UNSIGNED) DESC LIMIT 10";

$top_topics = bb_append_meta($bbdb->get_results($query),'topic');

?>