Hello maodiddy,
Unfortunately, yes on both counts.
So the forums are not at all like ExpressionEngine. That footer is included automatically in all files. The only way to change the footer is to change the global file which of course would change it everywhere. There is no way to exclude the footer from one file. So yes, I am saying there is no way to make it stop. The parser is adding the header and footer, the templates do not need to have any code for including them.
I feel your frustration. There is little documentation and maybe one or two “themes” in existence for this very reason. It’s really hard to skin the forums because of the way the parser works.
I wish I could give you more help here. If you want I can move this to the Community Help Forum. The community may have some tips for you, but I have not seen very much on this topic at all.
Sorry again!