//categories table
    id  name                  category
------  --------------------  --------
     9  Town Square                  1
     8  About Anything               1
     7  New                          1
    10  Suggestions and View         1
    11  Buying                       2
    12  Selling                      2

// list
    id  title    content                          forumid   catid  postedby  date_created       
------  -------  -------------------------------  -------  ------  --------  -------------------
     1  test9_1  Lucky is the name of Don Nelson        9       1  john      1992-05-24 10:00:00
     2  demo2    test                                   8       1  john      1997-05-09 12:00:02
     3  demo7    testasjdfjasdfjasdajhsdgdsasad         7       1  test      2003-05-20 09:00:00
     4  demo10   sadasdasdasdadsads                    10       1  test      2007-01-01 12:00:00
     5  demo11   testasjdfjasdfjasdajhsdgdsasad        11       2  test      2007-06-24 12:00:00
     6  demo12   sadasdasdasdadsads                    12       2  test      2000-12-25 01:00:00
    32  test9_2  asfjskadfhsdafsad                      9       1  demo      2007-05-24 12:00:00
    33  test9_3  check if the latest query is ok        9       1  john      2007-05-24 15:09:11

// sql - works but wrong
select id, title, forumid, title, count(*) 
from forum_list fl1
where date_created = (select max(date_created) from forum_list fl2 where fl1.id = fl2.id)
group by forumid;

// sql result
    id  title    forumid  title    count(*)
------  -------  -------  -------  --------
     3  demo7          7  demo7           1
     2  demo2          8  demo2           1
     1  test9_1        9  test9_1         3
     4  demo10        10  demo10          1
     5  demo11        11  demo11          1
     6  demo12        12  demo12          1

// sql result SHOULD be
    id  title    forumid  title    count(*)
------  -------  -------  -------  --------
     3  demo7          7  demo7           1
     2  demo2          8  demo2           1
     1  test9_3        9  test9_1         3
     4  demo10        10  demo10          1
     5  demo11        11  demo11          1
     6  demo12        12  demo12          1


Try this
--------------
select id, title, forumid, title, count(*) 
from (select max(date_created) mdate_created from forum_list) fl2, forum_list fl1
where date_created = fl2.mdate_created and fl1.id = fl2.id
group by fl1.forumid;

---Sadi