As noted above, these specific forums are going away. The forum model is not. We already have the new community forums in place at:
http://studiopress.com/forums/
We really expect to see these forums be all the best parts of this forum. The downsides to pure forum support are being augmented by the new system including a much more accessible product system, better documentation, a growing knowledge base for self help, and 1-1 support so users support questions don't get missed because they accidentally knocked it off our radar or someone else replied before we did making us miss it.
Ultimately we want to make the things that are broken work and the things that are working better. We want to see the community continue to grow and I peaked over at the new forums just a minute ago ... I'm very happy to see people already putting in some really cool "How to" type stuff not just "how do I..."
That is the stuff that really makes for better community, open sharing of really cool ideas that can help all of us.
Yes, change is scary, but if we take what we know is good about these forums and push to make the new forums even better, then this is going to be an amazingly good change.