The post number is not really a part of the permalink now – it is just a fragment.

You CAN make the topic part of the permalink use the topic ID with our plugin. 

I installed topic-id plugin but nothing changed. Every topic and post link is exactly the same as before the installation.

It will kick in with all new topics. Existing topics already have a stored permalink…

But I don’t create new topics in my forum, so this plugin is of no use to me.

Really? How very odd!
How many topics do you have?

36 for the last 5 years. Maybe I’ll have 40 one day in the distant feature but doubtful.

Anyway, no big deal for 3 euros.

Back on topic: right now on the top of the post I have the post number, the date and the chain icon. Since the number and the date aren’t clickable, can’t I somehow adjust the permalink on one of them and thus removing the chain icon completely?

If you are happy to work in the database – or run a little SQL query – then changing the topic slugs to their ID is a pretty simple matter. Then the IDs would be used all the time.

It can be done but you would need to change the actual display code to accommodate it. And that leaves you with the problem of catering for future updates.

Yellow Swordfish said
If you are happy to work in the database – or run a little SQL query – then changing the topic slugs to their ID is a pretty simple matter. Then the IDs would be used all the time.

Hmmm I’m not really sure if I want to change topic titles to ids so I’ll pass it for now. Maybe in the future.

It can be done but you would need to change the actual display code to accommodate it. And that leaves you with the problem of catering for future updates.  

Updates always bring troubles, so one more is not a big deal 

So, what should I do to change it?

do you want to lose the topic titles?  not just on permalink, but forever?  think this is where Andy was heading… but a small query like

UPDATE wp_sftopics SET topic_slug = topic_id;

but maybe best to wait for andy..