@Mahz
I'm not a fan of the statusupdatesd being used as chat, sometimes it's just people commenting to each other for a while. Maybe there could be an option to reply/comment directly to a status, instead of people having to make their own status to reply to something. The comments could be expanded if people want to read them, but be hidden by default in the recent status bar.
The should be able to be deleted by a mod or creator of the original status that is being replied to, showing 'deleted comment', so any hateful comments on the status update won't remain visible.
Status updates were never meant to be designed for a Reddit style conversation, but more like a running feed for updates you wanna post. The conversations that are had are really just a by product from people keeping watch. Originally the main aim of the status bar when it was designed was to show activity on the forum so visitors can see that it is quite active.
We as the mods can already delete status updates. It's just difficult to keep up with what's happening so we may only address the really bad ones that we see.
Also, maybe you could add a bar under the facebook group for the discord chat, people might notice it better there and start using that more for chats. Plus, it keeps all the social media together.
With the Discord button, it probably would make it less known if it was moved down to where the rules are as that section is only visible on the main site front. Currently it's visible on every page and thread, however I'll be blunt and point out that if you can't see it on the top bar then you really aren't looking for it in the first place.
I've seen other suggest re-arranging the forums and I'm for moving the Persistent World under the Roleplaying section or as a subcategory of the Roleplaying section.
Under the Roleplays could be the category for the things that are still related to roleplays and creativity in general, like the general roleplay discussion, character sheets, articles and guides, but also the gallery and the writing contests.
And under that the off-topic section for off-topic discussion, the spam forum, etc.
With Persistent RPs, Mahz has stated that he has a reason for keeping them higher up and that is due to visibility. Moving it down bellow means that less people are likely to see it and thus you will have less activity. This also got raised with the competition guys when they questioned why competitions were so far down, should perhaps be up near the News, and how they struggled to get people, but apparently Mahz forgot to mention they had access to the sidebar competition advert.
The issue is that no matter what the layout, something will suffer. The best thing to do is let common and regular things that 80% of people come here for, like off topic and roleplays, slide down to make way for important other sections or sections that need a boost.
@Mahz Since a few others were suggesting a few things:
I'm sure we don't need a ton of categories, but could the more "mature" 1x1 checks be separated from the regular 1x1 checks? I have nothing against those that want to RP that, but a large portion of the 1x1 checks are "wanna erp ;)" checks and are a pain to search through. When I was talking to Nutts and a few others about it, Nutts suggested a "smut tag", which I figure could work if separating the section altogether is too much. Something like that could help others that don't want to get their freaky on, since the 18+ tag commonly used in 1x1 checks can also mean drugs, alcohol, violence and so on and so forth. That way someone won't find themselves interested in an idea only to find out that the potential partner wants ERP in the plot.
Maybe a seperate 18+ section could be added too, one that would only be hidden for people who aren't 18 or who aren't logged into the site. There would have to be a date of birth added to the registration form for that.
This is probably stupid, but it popped into my mind while scrolling through 1x1: Tags for the different shippings that Roleplayers look for (MxM, FxF, MxF). Again, it's not a huge deal, but a lot of people only Roleplay one or two in my experience. It may be easier to just be able to search the tags for one of the three instead of constantly writing "Male looking for females" or "Female looking for males" in titles, but that may just be me. 
Few things here...
Smut tag would be nice to see. Currently 18+ is for anyone who wants to have any sort of adult content (drugs, alcohol, violence, etc) or only wants 18+ aged players. The issue is that it's used
everywhere and not just in the 1x1s section. Additionally when you do go into a 1x1 that does have it, it is rather funny to see how the thread is advertised as '18+' but then contains "fade to black only". In general... it just needs a little more clarity for people looking for, or not looking for, smut.
With placing in your date of birth... there is a clear reason why porn sites dropped that over 10 years ago. It does not work. On the internet, everyone is 18 if you select the right year. I do however think a private section may be a good idea, but on the same token we have the PM system.
With the mxm, fxf, mxf tags idea I'm not too sure if they'll be used properly or cover all the interest people want. There's a few people who identify as not male or female, both, furries, or even some other mix. I think the oddest one I've seen and had mentioned to me was a player who advertised as female "with extra", but the poster was adamant that Futa/Shemale is still female.
