Again, though, the issue is that forums are one feature of one kind of community. I've set up almost a dozen drupal sites and only three used forums. Six used blogging features, four included content aggregation. Ten needed the links.module APIs.
 
This all comes back to the question we've talked about before: what is 'core'? I think that focusing on APIs, infrastructure, and toolkits in 'core' is the best bet. Repackaging the current lineup of 'core' modules as a Drupal install profile, perhaps a 'turnkey web community', is the approach we need to move towards.
 
Obviously, just my $.02.
 
--Jeff
-----Original Message-----
From: Konstantin Käfer [mailto:kkaefer@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 4:03 PM
To: development@drupal.org
Subject: Re: [development] Modules for Core

Hi,

I'm fine with seeing forum.module and aggregator.module being removed
too. 

I disagree with removing the forum.module. Drupal's slogan is "community plumbing" which actually implies that you can create a community site (WITH a forum) out of the box.

Konstantin