That did not work with my 7.4.1 local installation using 5.00.4.

I set my local server to UTC and the Portal/Profile to local timezone.  Forum posts were then 6 hours earlier than before.  So rather than honor the local timezone it was as if it was now UTC+6.00 and not UTC-6.00.

I set the server and Portal to UTC with Profile at local timezone and same results.

I rolled back another installation that was using 5.00.5.1 and DNN 7.4.1 to DNN 7.4.0 and Forum 5.00.3.  I set the server and portal to UTC and left the profile at local timezone.  The forum posts showed the correct timezone time.   Once I set my local server timezone back to local the forum timezone is back to UTC no matter if I set the portal timezone to UTC or local.  So the only configuration with 7.4.0 and Forum 5.00.3 that works is if the server is UTC and the portal is at UTC then the profile timezone is honored. 

Something changed between DNN 7.4.0 and 7.4.1 that breaks how portal timezones and profile timezones work.

Found a combination that works:

7.4.2 with Forum 5.00.4 with server timezone set at UTC and portal/profile timezone set to local.  This will display the posts in the local timezone for authorized users and visitors (at least it does not changed the posted time).

So I will upgrade my staging server to 7.4.2 and downgrade the forum to 5.00.4.  If that works in Azure then for now that will be the path that works for me.

:)