David, the host does have the same permissions as an admin - they just don't have a profile like one (this is not just a forum issue). This is the only reason I advise against using the host account. Everything should work except they cannot be listed in the member directory feature, their profile information is limited, and there may/may not be some stuff around private messaging that does/doesn't work (not sure) but it shouldn't cause any actual errors I can think of.

Outside of that, I am not clear what the actual is here. People seem to be adding their own woes so I am not clear what is/isn't an issue.

I never had any issues on the Forum 4.5.3 with Forum admin permissions, but the host users have to be manually added as a user to the site or module settings with the same permissions as the administartors role.

Are you realy sure you have also permission issues with the portal administrators ?