I dont see the relevance of the shoutbox. If you have to say something create a new topic no? I think you should extend the recent posts box as it is more important I think.  Anyone else agree?

Okay

I have removed the shoutbox from the side nav as it really does not seem to be useful at this point in time. If anyone else does not like this change just post something here. I like to take into account all of your suggestions.

I did not add more recent posts as everyone can very easily view the last 50 posts by using the recent posts function on the toolbar at the bottom of every page.

Thanks for the suggestion ToastMan

I think you are going to need the shoutbox again eventually. It is good for now but sometimes you will want to use it to put out notifications and such. The good thing about a shout box is that every one can see it on every page of the forum.