diff --git modules/forum/forum.install modules/forum/forum.install
index 75f7785..23fc18a 100644
--- modules/forum/forum.install
+++ modules/forum/forum.install
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ function forum_enable() {
       'widget' => array(
         'type' => 'options_select',
       ),
+      'required' => TRUE,
     );
     field_create_instance($instance);
 
diff --git modules/forum/forum.module modules/forum/forum.module
index 3de62eb..2e525e6 100644
--- modules/forum/forum.module
+++ modules/forum/forum.module
@@ -266,9 +266,8 @@ function forum_node_validate($node, $form) {
   if (_forum_node_check_node_type($node)) {
     $langcode = $form['taxonomy_forums']['#language'];
     // vocabulary is selected, not a "container" term.
-    if (!empty($node->taxonomy_forums[$langcode])) {
+    if (!empty($node->taxonomy_forums[$langcode]) && $containers = variable_get('forum_containers', array())) {
       // Extract the node's proper topic ID.
-      $containers = variable_get('forum_containers', array());
       foreach ($node->taxonomy_forums[$langcode] as $item) {
         $term = taxonomy_term_load($item['tid']);
         $used = db_query_range('SELECT 1 FROM {taxonomy_term_data} WHERE tid = :tid AND vid = :vid',0 , 1, array(
@@ -565,9 +564,11 @@ function forum_form_alter(&$form, $form_state, $form_id) {
   }
   if ($form_id == 'forum_node_form') {
     $langcode = $form['taxonomy_forums']['#language'];
-    // Make the vocabulary required for 'real' forum-nodes.
-    $form['taxonomy_forums'][$langcode]['#required'] = TRUE;
     $form['taxonomy_forums'][$langcode]['#multiple'] = FALSE;
+    // Display a message if no containers or forums exist.
+    if (empty($form['taxonomy_forums'][$langcode]['#options']) && user_access('administer forums')) {
+      drupal_set_message(t('No containers or forums detected. Visit the <a href="@forums">Forums page</a> to set up containers and forums to hold your discussion topics.', array('@forums' => url('admin/structure/forum'))));
+    }
     if (empty($form['taxonomy_forums'][$langcode]['#default_value'])) {
       // If there is no default forum already selected, try to get the forum
       // ID from the URL (e.g., if we are on a page like node/add/forum/2, we