[_ck_]

Well there’s no way around the fact that “use display names for admin” basically MUST fetch the display name from the wp_users table when asked for it – and if it’s not been accessed before it’s not cached so it must hit the mysql db directly.

However, since “use display names” forces the forums table to store the display name properly, there’s no need to run the last poster id through the routine again and force a fetch of the display name, it’s already in the username field for last poster.

The good news however is between that tweak, a couple other bits of fine tuning and the undocumented $bb->load_options = true; I was able to get the queries down to just 10 for the front page for visitors and 13 for logged in members. This includes an extensive number of plugins, including useronline trackline (not the simplified one here but a port from wordpress).

It’s never been faster and rather impressive