Forms are sadly dead. They cost a lot to operate and maintain security updates for so without a critical mass of users they are dead
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The thing that got vBulletin to succeed over UBB was themes and customizations/hooks.
The thing that made phpBB popular was it didn’t require a license like vBulletin.
Honorable mention is SMF. It replaced YaBB SE, was also free, but had an amazing mod system that didn’t require any manual file editing. And [Unknown] and his team did a great job on the database keeping it way more performant than phpBB was in the free space.
They are one of those things that governments and big tech do not like. They are too easy for just anyone to operate, so I think we can see more legislation aimed at making running forums harder or more expensive, like the Online Safety Act in the UK.
An exception is copyright law. Because of massive corporate pressure, you can go to jail quickly for sharing a copyrighted work. Fortunately there's still section 230 which immunizes intermediaries.
I know endless local groups. Bike clubs. Hobby groups. They still all run on forums and mailing lists. No ads. No tracking. No doom-scrolling or this and that. Cost?
For many of them, a $5/month VM.
Yes, those required moderation too.
Again, solved problem for community sites.
As I said in another comment they are no longer as cheap to operate in the UK because of regulatory requirements, and this sort of regulation tends to get copied and extended around the world. All for the sake of the children, of course.
How much will it cost with UGC requires age verification and round the clock moderation? When its a risk to do it without a company to shield you from liability?
Selling pirate services will not solve the problem for someone running something like a community forum for their area, or a national forum for their hobby, or similar. You are still within the reach of your own country.