Since the forum is often used to organise events, I just had a couple thoughts about ways of making it easier.
It does tie in a bit with something I've mentioned previously which is compulsory member locations. My suggestion is that members should be forced to select their state from a drop down box but can then type a city/town/suburb if they so choose.
This would make it possible for moderators to send out group emails to all members from a given state. Also, I think moderators should be given the ability to PM more than 3 people at once.
Also, perhaps including a feature combining a poll with a calendar where members could specify dates that suited them.
Any other ideas or comments guys?