On some days it seems that just as many things are broken or half-ass supported than things that are fully supported. From that retrospect 1.6 is A LOT more stable than 1.8 will ever be. So it seems that 1.8 has more toys and flexibility, 1.6 is still your "rock solid" solution.
Looking at the changes since .21; they are mostly fixes that needed doing, & lang file updates. There's nothing half-assed about it.
1.6 is a lot more stable than 1.8 will be NOW because it's had almost 2 years of not being touched; say the same in 2 years time and I'm sure it'll be that 1.8 is a lot more stable than 1.9 will be NOW.
I do understand your point with the closure of the boards and that it may be pre-mature so I will look into this and we'll take remedial action.
And FWIW, it would appear we have different types of users: those who want a "rock solid" solution which currently I'd say you could choose either 1.6 or 1.8-rc1 for, and those who want bells and whistles and moving technology in which case 1.8-rc1 is your dog.
The reality is that 1.8 is overdue so we're correcting that now, a similar reality is that 1.6 is covered in dust and is due for retirement.
The downloads for 1.7.xx versions have been hidden with the release of 1.8-rc1 but as you've correctly pointed out, third party module authors need to sort their mods out before people may move past .21/.22. This is fine, I wholeheartedly accept that given one of our developers is a third party author whom is fixing their modules. Breaking this compatibility wasn't a decision taken lightly as highlighted on my release notes, but it had to be done and we're past this.
The downloads for 1.6.5 still exist and will continue to do so until the release of 1.8 at which point as per normal release procedure they too will be hidden unless there is an overwhelming interest in making it legacy.
If there is a community wide feeling that "a lot" of people can't move beyond .21 then we will of course continue to support users on this version with bugs which are inherently not fixed upstream.
I hope this helps clear some air with our thoughts and movements.
I will look into the unlocking of 1.6 for continued posting & the merging back of 1.8 + 1.7 so that we keep it all together again.
Charles.