Well, I’ve had a fun time here in the last day and a half trying to get a resolution for the error in advanced forum module. I received good support from drupal.org but the error wasn’t really with the AF at all. It was something with the panels everywhere module. I’ve reproduced it several times and there really is no doubt.
it’s disappointing, i really wanted to be able to use the panels everywhere module. But i also need to have as many options with the forum as I can get. so, panels everywhere will have to go.
glad that I made sure to have a good back up of things so I could do some comparisons. always have a backup.