Cheesy?? na I dont think so Its a forum not a web page compared to a standard forum its a million times better. DP uses the standard colours apart from a few icons grand when you have alot of traffic but to have a theme a rebuild its needed. any others?
I know the fire is the theme but it IS a bit cheesy and it looks out of place. I'd say just stick with the simple red and black colors, because the bottom part actually looks really good to me. 5/10, take off that fire mess and 7/10
Bit of an eyesore with the flames on the top, probably be better and less distracting if it was just a plain background. Also your header looks good, but it is a fixed width, while your forums are fluid, meaning on my full screen the header does not stretch the whole top of the content.
I think the flames are fine, but they could be integrated better into the page. Perhaps if they were towards the top and sides (shooting in) instead of behind parts of the actual forum (which is a bit distracting for me) it would be better. There are a few icons at the bottom that have white pixels around the outside (not meant for a dark background). Fixing those will also help make the site look more uniform and custom.