Let's face it Peter. Forums is old news. It's tired and dead. All of your suggestions are acknowledged but I don't think there's anything really worth putting effort into, to making the forums more active.
This place is literally a ghost town. The head admins are the sheriffs, server admins are like the deputies, and the small amount of members that go on here are just the locals.
Nothing can really make the forums stand out. You're literally asking to put a lot of effort into just getting people to post shit on the forums.
What if we do add or change something and more people go on the forums? Then what? There's really not much to talk about here except for suggestions, off-topics, and anything that people can voice their opinions on.
The forums are specifically meant for two scenarios:
1. Admins vote on/discuss admin applications, ban appeals, and staff reports.
2. Random community members get on to acquire info about our community. They can ask for help or post something cool for us to read/look at/discuss about.
A reward system for posting is literally pointless. We already have the custom ranks like "Hero Member" and "Legendary Member."
I've also noticed a pattern. A lot of your suggestions have been mostly for YOUR benefit.
Just leave the forums the way it is.