Re: This forum tagline is tell us what you are thinking?
I doubt the post is being “mulled over” though, as it’s been deleted and not closed. I know this because i went to fix a typo less than 2 minutes after posting (there’s a typo in the firs paragraph) and it was closed. So who every closed it, did so without reading the post. It was deleted not long after.
As a fellow bbAdmin, I’m sure you know that a deleted post remains in the DB and can be read from the admin console. 
https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/how-to-help-us-help-bbpress?view=all will work for an admin/mod/key master etc.
i would like to reiterate that if people still refer to this as an open-source project and us contributors as a community, then we have to accept that there will be voices out there that don’t 100% agree with us on everything. Deleting posts that detail such opinions only makes the consensus of a view point insular and narrow.
I don’t feel the same, which is not to say I disagree with the sentiment. I can see how it could be viewed that way, but that isn’t how I see it. Nuff said, we can chat semantics of open-source ethics elsewhere!
Also to your three questions: No one can answer # 1. Ever. The ‘Right’ direction for you is different than for me and for _ck_ and for everyone else. ‘Right direction’ is way too subjective. And as a developer, I hate when people ask me ‘Would it be easier to start over?’ Maybe. But I can’t tell you how long it’d take to reinvent the wheel, and I’m sure that I’d have problems that other people have already solved. It’s a Catch-22 to the extreme. 
I’d ask this:
1) Is bbPress moving?
2) Are you (developers) satisfied with the direction it’s moving in?
3) Are you (users) satisfied with the product, as it is? Does it live up to the goals, as expressed by the development team?
If # 1 is a no, then you leave the project or fork it.
If # 2 is a no, then you scrap and restart (or fork it).
If # 3 is a no, bear in mind I do not mean ‘Yeah, but I want built in smilies!’ That’s not a design goal. That’s a wishlist. Design goals are things like WP/BB integration (stated as a goal by the devs). But if it is, indeed, a no, then you really are left with the same choices. Leave or fork.
I think I’m just really keen on saying fork today *halo*
