On page optimization: h1-h2-h3 optimization

I know this is SEO basics, but I was just curious what others have has success with whenit comes to placing your header tags throughout your pages.

My thoughts go like this (as I'm opening a new forum):

h1 and h2 are in the relevant raplacements with h1 being the title of the thread and h2 being the bb title.

Would h3 (on forumdislplay template) be used for the forum links themselves?

Like I said, I'm just curious what other have seen success with?

Here are some recent posts I made regarding H1/H2/etc tag use:
is it good to use H1 or H2 in thread title?
is it good to use H1 or H2 in thread title?

I do not recommend applying H3 tags to links, but based on your current structure, you could use them for the "post titles" (when provided).