[durentis]

I need to have threads isolated by group access rights and unfortunately I have a few thousand divisions.

Members will need to belong to a few dozen groups at a time, though likely only a half dozen. Some groups may have no members in them but can gain members at any time (automatically through the site integration). Each group is bound to a single subforum so only those in the group can see/read any threads within it.

I realize it's an atypical usage scenario, but it is what it is. Technically, I can create and delete the forums as members gain access to them or groups empty of people, but I expect most, if not all, groups to be full most of the time. If I can't get it to run now without any members in the groups, it's certainly not going to run down the road.

Prefixes/tags were suggested over at .com too, but I don't think they will do what I need.. though I admittedly don't know much of anything about them.

I'm getting the feeling that vB has a very awkward way of handling forums and access rights - a very big footprint, if you will, that makes it fully unsuited to this usage scenario even though it's exactly what I need.