unfortunately you are right. The widgets that bbpress comes with can only be changed by filters, and that may be your solution.
Alternately you can cut the widget code into a plugin. I do this to alter the wordpress login plugin, and once you get into it it’s quite easy, just google creating a plugin for lots fo resources.
You’ll need some plugin code, and then to copy the widget into the plugin. You’ll then need to change the widget name so it doesn’t conflict.
@robin-w – ahh, i see..Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.