As it is now, I have to go to the forum index to log in. I think this is a huge downside and I have never seen it in another forum, ever. Usually there’s a reply button and if you’re not logged in, you can log in and be forwarded to the post where you were going to reply.
It happens all the time when I read the forum, want to reply, and I have to do this extra step saving the url, going back to index to log in, re-paste the url and go.
Why not change that?