I've read lots of forum topics on this subject, but let's see if I can describe my dilemma:
I like the convienence of galleries and the image module. Ditto for forums. In each of these modules, some hooks are set up to handle specialized layout that's specific to these content types (e.g. forum and image type) when they are in the prescribed taxonomy/category. BUT I also like the flexibility of taxonomies that are based upon my own faceted categorization - and the advantage of having extensions in the menuing system as well as neat things like the distant parent module.
So I'm stubborn, I want the best of both worlds! I would like the taxonomy system to be more content-type sensitive. So I could style the faceted (eg. categorized) outputs in a way that's appropriate to the context of its content type. I want searches to also return the searches in a neatly content-based, faceted manner. So, when you do a search, or select a term (category), items are returned in several formats - album for images, tables for forums, summaries for articles.
I'm thinking about how to attack this. Start with the taxonomy stuff (modules based on taxonomies that I want to use). Then -
1. Style with PHP Template by content type. (This allows forums to look like forums, galleries to look like galleries, etc.)
2. Modify the taxonomy searches so that the content comes back ordered by type in the outermost join. (This creates searches and category selecitons by content types).