Well bugger me, sordna has just posted almost
exactly what I was typing... I'll still post it anyway!
It's not a 'band-aid', it's a completely logical subset of 'keyboards'! I can see the logic of merging ergo with alternative layouts, since they are kinda related, but I really fail to understand your hatred of subforums. Honestly, whatever you do, 'keyboards' is going to be the catch-all forum, and it will always be noisy. Attempting to curtail that is a waste of time. Subforums are THE best way to give signal some space to breathe.
to be clear, my #1 goal in any and all changes to geekhack is to expand its userbase
If you mean expand the numbers, that seems to be happening regardless.
If you mean expand the breadth of different types of user, then so far, and even considering the proposed future changes that have been mentioned, I'd say it's a whopping fail. When someone new arrives, they'll make a judgement based on the main forum page. If it doesn't show breadth, they're more likely to decide that GH isn't for them (since the alternative 'latest posts' view will always be 95% noise).