I see yea, guess im just a creature of habit
Habits can change my friend. And they will. Give it time, and you will see the major shortcomings of standard multi-forum approaches.
You'll notice that some forum websites are already realizing the failure of multi-forums by making "recent forum post" sections that outline all the recent posts because no one wants to click on 15 sub-forums to see the most recent 30 posts. That hack solution is merely a plastic band-aid over a gaping wound.
The Thread Tags approach is the disinfectant, stitches, and gause wrap needed to clean and close that awful dirty wound, there is no other way around it.
I suggest giving it a shot, there's no risk, if you don't like it, just let me know and I'll give you the refund needed.