thanks for the thoughts, zarzal.
i tried the new values in php.ini, and rebooted apache, but no difference.
i'm now suspicious that something/someone has changed some file permissions/ownerships, which is preventing files from being written/updated.
would it be possible to get a file listing of someones 7.2 /forum directory? (ls -laRh * in the forums folder) i could then compare permissions and owners.
as for 7.2.2, i was hoping to put off the trauma of an upgrade until 7.3
