Thanks for the comments Blacknight. I get what you are saying about the 'busy' comment, I agree and I'll get around to it sometime. There is a lot of content I am trying to make visible too so there has to a compromise. The members seem to have no gripes though.
I have tested the screen at full width but I felt it lost a lot of character and uniqueness that way. It became a bit 'samey' in design to other similar forums. But again that is something I may be forced to do in future.
The logo needs work too, I have gotten similar comments before.
The icons I drew myself in Macromedia Fireworks. Took a day or two but the time and effort was worth it
