When using the Standard forum in a blog-like forum, starring and pinning of discussions are practically non-functional, since the special status icons do not display.

Neither the discussions list view , nor individual discussion views show the pinned or stared status of a discussion after  the user / admin has starred or pinned a discussion.

Also the Subscribe / Unsubscribe function and switch are most unusable / difficult to find etc.

This is how it looks in a standard forum for general use:

And this - ALAS - is the experience in a blog-like forum: