Its much better this way. Keep them separate. I'm on dialup, so I tend to stay away from the Soapbox and additional pages past the first threads, just so I can get some territory covered during my limited time online. The Soapbox is finally in a pattern like it was designed for, and in hindsight it's better than what was before. Don't mess with it.
Diversity is the key.
The Forum is good like it is. No change is necessary. My vote is to leave it alone, I always hated the Unified Lounge cause it would move so fast that I didn't even want to post there. Now I enjoy it cause I can actually feel like I'm adding something. The two certainly have alot in common.