maybe the forum went down for a split second (phpbb can optionally take forums and/or search down if the load is too high, or maybe it couldn't connect to the db) and that happens to be what the "down" message is set to...
i ended up redesigning subsilver2 though, and then themed it with different colours... the standard blue, green, red, purple and black... so no matter what, they all look the same, but with different colours...
i was originally supposed to help upgrade an ancient and heavily-modified phpbb v2 install, but after pulling my hair out with red tape and jackasses, i quit, and opened up the then-replacement to the public.