I also share the opinion that the most concise forum set-up is the best.
Here's how I would do it - Both Feature Requests and Report an Error could be specific threads instead of forums, right? So under Site Operations, you could have "Rules & Announcements", and "Bugs and Requests".
Under Community, you could possibly nix Meet-Ups? On another forum I post on that has no subforums beneath it, people have no trouble organizing meet ups around the country. I think I could see all that happening in the General Discussion. You could have a "Shows / Events" subforum to combine Upcoming and Past Events. How would you nicely browse all the upcoming shows and not have to wade through bumped threads about past shows, or discussions about booking shows? You could simply sticky them, and then unsticky when passed.
I am cool with all the hardware / software sections, I do like different platforms / tools having their own corner. If I had to dig through a million LSDJ threads to find NES related ones, that would be a a hassle.
So, the above would trim out 3 subforums! Just a suggestion of course, I appreciate the forums you have set up for us.