IMHO, the forum like this is good for general conversation, but is not good for bug reporting. Because there is no easy way of checking whether the same report is posted, and there is no way of tracking. The advantage of a bug tracker is that ISI and we can easy track the problems. It will also become easy to check whether the problem is already posted. Probably it will be difficult to change the way from now on, since the beta period has already started, but I think it's better solution.
getsatisfaction.com could be a reasonable approach too, as it allows devs the option to prioritise issues based on user voting counts. (Which also helps reduce duplicates). I think in general though, these forums need a serious tidy up. We need a subforum for constructive feedback, and another for issues, another for feature requests. A few mods would be good to keep things in order and close duplicate threads (with a post in that thread to the original). I'm sure a couple of willing volunteers could be found at no cost to ISI. (No, I'm not offering, sorry! I am already very busy). I'm having to wade through a ton of repeated, poorly titled threads to get to the real gold. Removes my interest in looking here, and therefore my exposure to the game. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
+1 Mantis is good for developers alone, as soon as you get regular folks in it, it can be confusing. I also made great experience with Redmine and at CTDP we use it for development.
Im not one to say "i told you so"...so ill just post this link from November lol http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/1212-Clean-up-the-forum