I'm guessing this has been suggested in the "Site Features / Feedback &Suggestion" forum, but I wouldn't know because I haven't actually look there.

It might have to do with the fact that eventually, many, if not most, of the lodestone features will be moved over to the forums. At the very least, they have said that the dev letters will end up being here, as will all news regarding maintenance, down time, etc. At which point, the only thing the lodestone is used for is viewing live stats and blogs?

I am also guessing, and this truly is just a guess, sometimes it is easier to develop major changes independently and than integrate or bridge them later. Since SE has said the forums have some features explicitly turned off, it could be a feature that is already there and we don't know it. /shrug