DNS only deals with turning a name (like
www.aoaforums.com) into an IP address (like 209.85.27.5). This is because computers only actually work with the IP addresses, but human beings find names much easier to remember!
The issues you were having sound outside the scope of simply domain resolution (IE, turning a name into an IP address). DNS issues generally manifest themselves as the inability to connect to a name, but IP addresses work fine. That doesn't help you fix the issue you've seen, but I'd be careful about assuming it was just a DNS issue.