The Alternachicks forum has been around for more than 10 years. It was a very active forum for many years, but it has slowed down considerably the last few years. It began for the reasons mentioned above - it was a huge group with far too many threads to keep manageable in a general forum and needed the dedicated space.
But that also brings up another reason why we hesitate to add forums. Sometimes what may begin as a very active group may eventually slow down. We have a very large number of forums, but there have been many forums that have come and gone over the years that you don't see. The goal is to prevent that because it rarely ends well. There are far more groups that are well suited for dedicated threads in our Support Groups forum than as whole forums.
A group must begin as a dedicated thread, then grow beyond what is manageable and also stand the test of time before a forum is created.
I hope that helps