[Digital Jedi]

Here's the thing I notice about most styles, on any forum platform, not just vBulletin. And not just free, but also premium styles. They almost always closely resemble the default style as much as they can. And the default style is, well, not really intended to be the best. It's meant to be vanilla.

Scripts are what they are, and you have to work with what you've got. Look at phpBB styles. They all look like phpBB. Look at xenForo styles. They all look like xenForo. That's not to say that this is anyone's fault. It's just to say that to really push the design beyond the limitations of the forum script is a lot of work. For free designers, that's probably too much work for just a freebie. And for premium designers, that's probably less efficient for them to put out and make any money off of. At least to their way of thinking.

And then you have the mentality that your forum should work well before (or instead of) making it look pretty. I, personally, don't agree that either of those elements should be neglected as a matter of good standards. But for the beleaguered admin, he's only going to choose one of those when it comes down to the wire. And I believe this mentality has shaped just how far designers will go when it comes to really pushing for innovative design. In other words, they don't see anyone besides a few like us, prioritizing it. So they don't bother.