Maybe that's it. Maybe they are re-vamping the forums so members have to pay to get in.
EDIT: Maybe I should have read their page first. I remember the last time I took one of SW.com's polls of future features. The forum was lame then (had it changed?) so I didn't vote it as a high priority. So the SW forums go down, Sluggo will take all of the blame. At least we have TFN, right?! hehehe!