For what it's worth coming from a forum n00b, I love EE.
I'm in the process of redesigning a trade publication's website using it, and the EE platform is incredibly robust and powerful. I've got a pretty strong PHP background, so being able to do some of the advanced programming stuff so easily is a great break. This engine can do all kinds of things.
Speaking of EE, if you any of you use PHP on a regular basis and are looking for a powerful, easy to use framework, Ellis Labs also makes a free PHP framework called Code Igniter. I've used it for some projects as well, and it's pretty incredible.
codeigniter.com