Is your current version of mysql locking tables by default? From the mysql manual:
Normally, you don't have to lock tables, as all single UPDATE statements are atomic; no other thread can interfere with any other currently executing SQL statement.
They suggest the only time to lock a table in these cases:
If you are going to run many operations on a bunch of tables, it's much faster to lock the tables you are going to use. The downside is, of course, that no other thread can update a READ-locked table and no other thread can read a WRITE-locked table.
If you are using a table handler in MySQL that doesn't support transactions, you must use LOCK TABLES if you want to ensure that no other thread comes between a SELECT and an UPDATE. The example shown below requires LOCK TABLES in order to execute safely:
Neither of these cases really apply to W3T.
I don't think there would be any way to change the scripts if tables are always locked from and insert,select,update etc. as your forums grow the amount of traffic will keep tables almost continuosly locked.
